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The worst pulled pork I've ever had was in Utah.

It was slightly better than a Manwich.

The only available side was green jello with raisins, shredded carrots and cottage cheese suspended inside of it.

I wish I wouldn't have read this post

You'd be surprised what the restaurants pay. 

It's not like that here. Of course, they must purchase from distributors but they don't pay what we pay at the liquor store - who must buy from the same people the restaurants do.

Restaurants make money on booze here. Lots and lots of money. 

BYO is an option at maybe 5 percent of the establishments here.

25-40 percent less is the number here. That's where I came up with $5 for a bottle I pay $8 for. Big mark up to drink it there, and no BYO option.

Yes. The Brewpub model is where it's at for high margin beer production.  Serve passable food and some good brew and  it's a license to print money.  Decide to can or bottle that beer and you've introduced all kinds of costs to the model.

So I forget after all these years but you've now left the bay area for where?  
You make an excellent point and I can't help but agree when you say, "...any place that calls it a BBQ lacks good enough BBQ for me to care."  I can not argue with that!
And yes, it's extremely painful to pay $20+ per pound for beef rib.  The raw cut itself has become extremely expensive in recent years, and BBQ pitmasters also don't really like to cook it because the amount of space it takes on the pit and its effective yield are WAY below things like brisket and pork butt, so the opportunity cost of cooking it is also extremely pricey for them.
That's one of the main reasons I've perfected cooking it for myself.  I can occasionally stumble over a great deal where I get it for close to $2/lb raw, and I stock up when I do.

I feel bad because my dad is partial to heavy food and every time I go home, he's found some new "BBQ" place. And the food is usually good meat product, but it ain't BBQ. 

Bars and restaurants here can purchase many things cheaper at Sam's club than through their distributors

but, they pay less than a buck a bottle or can of beer.  resell for $3  

tap beer is where the $$$ is.

Not here. Three companies and the unions have the full-on cartel model in place.

california enacted an OTP tax- "other tobacco products" which collected a 65% tax at the wholesale rack for customers of manufacturers and distributors who reside in Cali... 

i made a bushel selling "retail" at a 10% GM (which means i didn't retain records from customers purchases) to stores in Cali... I figured what they were doing, but...... their business, not mine.  a box of cigars are 'keystoned' for retail, meaning if you purchase from manufacturer for $100, it retails for $200... selling individual as opposed to boxes is greater than keystone... the cali buyers buying the same box of cigars i purchased from manufacturer for $102 (my state has a 2% tax on OTP) they had a minimum of $170 invested. buying from me put their costs into the >$120 range..... i aimed for volume and outfitting smaller cigar shops who didn't move enough product to get to the more exclusive labels... the cali buyers took advantage of that.  their taking advantage made me some bucks... it was good all around, except for the state and a bunch of clowns in their legislation who thought they were clever- they actually harmed their state greatly.  

most locally owned restaurants around here are keystone operations- running a 50%GM on all the products they move at a minimum.  it goes up from there... which brings me to something that ought to be in the "things i hate" thread in the BigVII board:

I hate restaurants that ENTER business thinking they're 'exclusive' or 'high end'... that is something EARNED- not 'declared'.  but that isn't how it works down here- these places open with $35 plates of pasta with overdone seafood covered in sauce from a jar, and well dressed servers in a decent atmosphere, and think they've arrived... meanwhile, there are high school kids cooking in the kitchen.