Tonight's Restaurant Dinner Fell Off the Sysco Truck

Summary

Economy / September 15, 2025 Tonight’s Dinner Fell Off the Sysco Truck Sysco’s market dominance means that something essential is being lost. As local businesses fade away, a sense of a distinct regional and local identity disappears with them. A Sysco Corp. tractor trailers at the company’s distribution center in Halfmoon, New York, on January 30, 2024.(Angus Mordant / Getty Images) Excerpt from the “Distribution Baron” chapter in Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food System. One of my favorite restaurants is Milk & Honey in Harlan, Iowa, a small town in the western part of the state. The restaurant is run by Ellen Walsh-Rosmann, who is also a farmer and a mother. Milk & Honey has a delicious homemade strawberry jam that’s way better than the normal mediocre corn syrup-based jam packets served at most diners. Their skillets include chorizo made from pork raised on Ellen’s farm. It’s one of the best breakfasts I’ve had, and on top of it, it’s basically the same price as a McDonald’s breakfast meal. Quality and price can go hand in hand when done locally. But places like Milk & Honey are fighting an uphill battle. Mirroring broader trends in the American economy, the largest chains are even consolidating their hold on the restaurant industry. In 2023, the largest ten chains represented 44 percent of all Top 500 chain restaurant sales. It’s why every interstate exit increasingly seems to offer the same options. There’s even been consolidation among owners of chains. A large number of food options in and around American malls trace back to one private equity firm named for the main character in Ayn Rand’s novel The Fountainhead. The group, which is based in Atlanta, owns stakes in Arby’s, Auntie Anne’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Carvel, Cinnabon, Carl’s Jr., Culver’s, Dave’s Hot Chicken, Dunkin’, Hardee’s, Jamba, Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q, Jimmy John’s, McAlister’s Deli, Miller’s Ale House, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Schlotzs...