How many of these burger joints own the building they operate in?

This is a very shallow look at economic forces. And ignores some of the bigger squeezes happening. The number of landlords continues to decline as real estate is consolidated in fewer hands. And worse, the number of landlords that abdicate their roles to real estate management companies grows every year, and the percentage of properties in an area run by a given management company continues to grow as well. This creates a level of “collusion” that didn’t really exist 30 years ago.

Our current market abhors competition, and regulators and courts have increasingly sided with the bigger business.

Inflation was a huge problem 10 years ago. It’s why I stopped renting.