> The conversation recently hit TikTok, when a user who goes by the handle @thedilligentdiva compiled a list of such New York restaurants to avoid...

> Commentators chimed in, listing other places owned by private equity and lamenting its presence in the industry. The consensus was grim: “It’s sad once you realize it’s really hard to find real mom and pop,” and “So we cooking and eating at home.” ...

Loads of bemoaning how "real mom and pop" restaurants are an endangered species. But no mention of the grim realities of such places - 9/9/6 or worse hours for mom and pop, low pay, ever-rising supplier prices, debt, ...

This isn't exactly a new thing in the restaurant world. Investment group buys local operation, franchises the heck out of it, until it's stretched so thin it implodes. The history of the business is littered with such corpses. (Or zombies, that persist in a few locations or offshoot chains in other regions).

Welcome, Gen Z! It's been a solid heuristic for a very long time that as soon as private equity gets involved in any business, that business is basically over. Not necessarily as in "out of business", but as in "any real value that business offered to customers is no more".

Beast of capitalism is an ouroboros - a snake devouring its tail. The more they try to squeeze everything for money, the more only the things outside their grip thrive.