is the restaurant brand stuff I buy in the store the same as what's in the restaurant?

May 15, 2004 3:56 PM

A browse through the frozen food aisle of my local grocery store shows me all kinds of prepared foods from well known restaurant chains. Buffalo Wings from T.G.I.Fridays, BBQ Chicken Pizza from California Pizza Kitchen... what I want to know is, when I go to the actual restaurant chain and order the same products, are they just doing what I'd be doing if I bought the store-bought product? Is the "chef" at California Pizza Kitchen actually making my pizza to-order, or is he pulling a frozen pie out of his freezer, and popping it in the oven?
posted by crunchland to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

He should be making it fresh(ish). the dough is already prepared, all ingredients are cut and ready, etc...he just assembles it, and pops it in the oven.
posted by amberglow at 4:06 PM on May 15, 2004

These are chain restaraunts. I don't know anything about them in particular, but I'd assume that all their food is coming from one central location and is de-frosted in the kitchen before being cooked or re-heated. Whether or not the entire pizza or chicken wing gets delivered as a big block of ice or the ingredients are separate, I have no clue.
posted by tomorama at 4:47 PM on May 15, 2004

it depends on the place...at Fridays, i'd think most appetizers and deep fried things are frozen, but that entrees are freshish. Pizza is usually fresh, even at local pizza places (but with canned sauces, etc).
posted by amberglow at 5:00 PM on May 15, 2004

In a parallel, high-end universe: Who Really Cooks Your Food?

;-)
posted by stonerose at 6:05 PM on May 15, 2004

it's primarily pre-packaged and pre-created.

all restaurants do what amberglow said, however, chain restaurants receive the veggies pre-cut, the creme brulee in a mix form, the dough frozen, the sauce made....all they really do is reheat.

I don't have first hand knowledge as I never have worked, or knew someone who worked, at a chain place. But they don't higher chefs. They higher cooks. That's a sign that they aren't into creative endevours by the cooking staff.
posted by Stynxno at 7:26 PM on May 15, 2004

I'm pretty sure it's an increasingly rare thing to get actual hand-prepared-from-fresh-ingredients food at restaurants these days. Most of the stuff will be prepackaged flash-frozen food reheated, of quality that varies from crap to superb.

And that'd be "hire," not "higher." Higher chefs might make great brownies, but they just don't have the ability to actually plan an entire meal.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:22 PM on May 15, 2004

CPK food is made fresh. At Friday's it depends what you order. I have worked at more than a few chains and typically the produce is fresh (pre-cut veggies are more expensive), some meats are frozen (chicken wings, burgers), some other items are frozen (french fries and apps like jalapeno poppers), but generally speaking the food is fresh. Standardization at chains is achieved by using preprepared sauces and seasonings and rigorously training the mexican guys in the kitchen to cook the food exactly like the corporate recipe says.
posted by monkeyman at 9:23 PM on May 15, 2004

All of that said, the actual products you get in these restaurants are almost certainly not the same ones available in your grocer's freezer section. More likely, the restaurant licensed its brand to a consumer frozen foods manufacturer, whose recipes may only be distant cousins (at best) of those used by the chain.
posted by jjg at 2:33 AM on May 16, 2004

What JJG said. In the UK a restaurant chain called Pizza Express (which bakes its pizza from dough live in the store) also sells pizzas in supermarkets. The supermarket version is definitely not the same as the restaurant version.
posted by skylar at 4:01 AM on May 16, 2004

Response by poster: Well, I want to an especially tiny CPK in National Airport ... the pizza they gave me was virtually identical to the pizzas I've bought in the grocery store (except the price in the restaurant was about 75% higher than the already expensive frozen pizza). Maybe this had more to do with the fact that it wasn't a full-blown restaurant, and was in an airport.
posted by crunchland at 4:27 AM on May 16, 2004

I saw frozen oysters "kilpatrick" in the supermarket today.
That really was scary.
posted by johnny7 at 6:39 AM on May 16, 2004