This week, a solo David Dayen is joined by Dan Jacobs, chef, restaurant owner, and active member of the Independent Restaurant Coalition, to discuss a looming threat to neighborhood restaurants: the proposed merger between the food giant Sysco and the cash-and-carry Restaurant Depot.

Restaurants already operate on thin margins, but this merger threatens to cut off a major source of restaurant bargaining power and a competitive check on the market. As a result, this merger could reverberate through the restaurant industry and local economies, forcing limited menus, thinner margins, and even closures. We also discuss how restaurants are being squeezed by post-pandemic changes in food prices and the labor market, child care needs, and credit card swipe fees. We also get into the value of small restaurants organizing and potential legislative solutions to help keep local dining thriving.

Finally, we end on another edition of Makan’ Fun, our now-regular segment on the ongoing drama surrounding the Paramount–Warner Bros. merger.

Listen via Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

David Dayen is the executive editor of The American Prospect. He is the author of Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power and Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street’s Great Foreclosure Fraud. He co-hosts the podcast Organized Money with Matt Stoller. He can be reached on Signal at ddayen.90.