United

The food I ate that morning was especially cheap because taxpayers subsidize many of the ingredients that go into the food served at IHOP, from corn to sugar to meat products. But another reason why the food is so cheap is because of this cheap labor. IHOP, like many restaurants in our country, pay workers the $ 2.13 tipped wage—and then folks like Natasha, who work hard jobs for long hours, still have to rely on the taxpayer-funded social safety net. They are outsourcing the true cost of their food to all of us. Cheap food actually isn’t cheap. In fact, it comes at a high cost.