On 2/22/2012 3:14 PM, Hell Toupee wrote:
> On 2/22/2012 11:02 AM, Nancy2 wrote:
>
>> I'd take it all with a grain of salt. All the franchises (Applebees
>> and the like) and WalMarts have individual managers/owners. So "one
>> size fits all" doesn't work here.
>
> But they all get their food from the same suppliers, and have the same
> policies in place. It's not as if those local managers have full control.
>
> Decades ago, McDonalds franchise holders had more freedom to purchase
> supplies locally. I used to work for a company that wholesaled fresh
> potatoes to the local McD's, who made, yes, fresh french fries from
> those potatoes. Then McD corporation decided to increase the
> standardization of their products, and began requiring franchise holders
> to buy it all from their approved suppliers. No more freshly made french
> fries. Instead, frozen fries out of the factories that McD corporation
> contracts with.
>

Buddy has a commercial refrigeration business and I have seen the back
ends of a lot of the chain places. They all do the same thing. Trucks
show up with standardized mostly heat and serve products products. All
of the franchisees get the same products.


>>
>> Anyway, I'd like to see something like a steak at Applebees that was
>> "premade in a plastic baggie and heated in a microwave." LOL.
>
> Visit the food science department at your local university, or better
> yet, the library that serves that department. Ask to look at the trade
> publications for the commercial food industries. You'll get a very fast
> education in the vast array of mass produced, pre-made, thaw/heat/serve
> restaurant foods commercially available and served at chain restaurants
> across the country. Including steaks. The steaks are pre-cooked to rare,
> with grill marks, then frozen. The restaurants thaw and heat them, if
> necessary cooking them further to the diner's preference.

Exactly, everything is studied and arranged. The vast majority of chain
food is heat and serve.


>
> Don't take my word for it. You'll be simultaneously entertained and
> appalled while reading the trade journals. You'll also never look at a
> chain restaurant meal the same way again, once you realize the only real
> difference between chain restaurant entrees and those you pull from the
> grocery store's freezer case are the price.