I too, like you, am in some ways habitual; there are places that I usually go to for various reasons... the main one is because I like it.
As a coffee lover then when I find someone who knows how to make it really well I hardly abandon it, it is not easy to find a good coffee even if, coming from an Italian in Italy it may seem like a heresy eh eh!
Recently with Reny we discovered a new pizzeria in Reggio where they serve excellent products, the place is clean and welcoming and the staff is knowledgeable and kind... a rare hidden gem!
I say rare because lately it is happening more and more often to go to places where the quality is really very low and we are disappointed, it also happens in places we already know and which in the past were excellent; it seems that by now there is a tendency to decrease quality by focusing on quantity.
For me it's not a great move, quality always pays off!
I tend not to go out as much these days as the quality is below par and the prices higher than they should be. I'm not all about gourmet food, although I value quality, a balance between quality of food and service and vale for money I guess. I like finding new pizzeria's...I love pizza!
I have always wondered why food vendors reduce the quality of their services after winning the heart of people.
It is certain that they will lose many of the people that came for the quality.
Yeah, this happens a lot. I guess many just run a business model: Open up, win a following to build revenue then sell off when the business's P & L (profit and loss) statement looks the best. A friend just did this with her place and made a good sum of money. I stopped going there as the service and quality declined as she began to make the books look more solid for the prospective buyer, and I'll never go back.