I find it odd that the question assumes that every meal is served with french fries as a standard side.
It's certainly not the case in the vast majority of places where I eat, even for under $10 lunches. That's typical of a burger meal, maybe steaks, some (not all) sandwich joints, a few diners, but I've never eaten Mexican or Indian or Thai or Chinese or Mongolian or Italian, nor at places that specialize in salads or noodles or burritos or pizza or subs ... ... ... where fries would be "substituted" for.