Letters to the editor: It's not the job of restaurants to meet everyone's price points

To the editor: The social media “war” over the Yerord Mas basturma brisket sandwich turned on a light bulb for me (“‘It looks like a war.’ How a $38 Armenian brisket sandwich ignited debate over culture and cost,” July 13).

Social media as used by influencers and content creators for income is no longer really “social.” It’s commercial. It’s akin to reality TV, which is largely not “real.” But content consumers are free to make the choice of what to watch, and it follows that restaurant customers should be free to choose what and where they eat without them and the establishment being self-righteously trolled to generate eyeballs for income.

The margins in the restaurant business are notoriously slim even in the best of times, and as a consumer, I’d rather a restaurant maintain quality and not cut corners to meet a price point. It’s the consumer’s prerogative to choose where one can afford to eat, not the restaurant’s responsibility to meet someone’s budget.

Gregory Sun, Alhambra

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.