[dragonwriter]

> fast food raising prices beyond the point where it’s a discount relative to better food anymore.

Fast food has usually been more expensive than (not just “not at a discount to”) better food, ceteris paribus, because you are paying for “fast” in both money and quality.

It is less expensive than better food that also has higher grades of service when the demand for service at the level at issue is sufficiently great compared to the demand for speed.

[add-sub-mul-div]

I don't think you pay for fast. You may need fast so you settle for worse, cheaper food. But you sacrifice a better, slower dining experience. I'd consider that its own qualitative tradeoff separate from pricing.

But even if my framing is wrong, the fact remains that fast food has traditionally been cheaper than better (restaurant) food and only recently has that discount started to go away.