Probably 20 years of cost optimization.

I'm pretty old and used to go there sometimes 20 to 35 years ago.

The burgers were always flavorless. Your kid memory is wearing rose colored glasses.

It's probably been at least a decade since I went to one. Sad to hear they enshittified, but can't say I'm surprised given that everyone else has too.

It was never awesome.

yea, i remember it being a 'good' place, too. i think its downward spiral started when the founder left the company in the late 80s, and picked-up steam when the company sold itself a decade later. today's company is not the same as even then, either. it's been through more ownership changes, a bankruptcy, and its then-owner luby's was nearly a covid casualty--all but set to shut down completely before finding buyers for the scraps that still remained.