Did businesses abuse the economy?

Prices generally go up across the board like that because of inflation which is caused by the Federal Reserve, not because businesses are trying to screw everyone over. When the value of the dollar drops the prices of things have to rise to restore equilibrium. I don't know of the restaurant Norms, but if they managed to keep their prices down they must have made cost cuts somewhere else to remain competitive. It's a bit more complicated than this with regulations and monopolies/cartels, but those are maintained by the government.