Why do restaurant owners feel they are special and the only people who don't have to pay their employees wages?

More and more I see these honestly shocking news segments about tipping where the OWNER is out there talking about how sad it is how poorly restaurant workers are paid. Thing is - segments like this are common and I can find easily like a dozen of these examples.

In my own town, there is a guy just like this - he will brag and show customers at the bar that he is placing 1-2K bets on a single soccer game, and has a luxury car he talks to everyone about worth just under $100K. However he then will shame customers who tip what he considers to be too little calling them "cheap" - despite the fact that he won't even buy uniforms for his own employees because they are "too expensive and we barely make anything here".

What makes the restaurant business so special that you deserve some exemption from what every other business has to do?