Ask the guy who works in a chain restaurant

In My Humble Opinion
1

I know a lot of people here have disdain for your run of the mill T.G.I.McChilleBee’s, saying the food/service is sub-par, or they just don’t like the idea of cookie-cutter eateries dotting the landscape when a locally owned place could serve better food (note that I said could, I’ve been to many a local place that have sucked balls.) However, being that I’m, in general, not one of those people (I do agree there are times and situations where I wouldn’t even think about going to a chain restaurant, but I agree that there are also plenty of times when there’s nothing wrong with it all all,) I got a job working at one to pay the bills while I’m in grad school, since I haven’t yet been able to get full funding.

I work in the kitchen, cooking up the food you love (or hate,) to scarf down, but am also familiar with the things the servers have to go through as well, so I can answer just about any question you bring on. And even though I’ve only ever worked in the one kitchen, I am assured by my co-workers, most of whom have worked in several kitchens, both local and chain joints, that pretty much all the chain ones work the same way, to one degree or another.

To start it off, I feel I should let everyone in one something:

If you eat out with any kind of regularity (like, more than a couple times a year,) then I’m telling you this right now and up front…you’ve eaten floor food. I’m sorry, there’s just no way around it. It happens. We drop a steak, and it’s in the middle of the dinner rush, there aren’t any cooking for a later ticket that we can use (perhaps cause they’re all going more done than yours,) and we can’t afford to waste another ten minutes cooking another one. So we’ll pick it up off the floor, rinse it off, and slap it on the grill for a few seconds a side to kill any nasties. (Or, since I mostly work the salad/fry side of the kitchen, I’ll toss it back in the deep fryer for a few seconds.)

If that bothers you, I suggest you stop eating out, or ordering in, or even leaving your house and only eat food that has been boiled for hours on end and live in a hermetically sealed bubble.

2

I wonder this for many restaurants, yours included: How do you keep such a large menu ready to serve in under 20 minutes? Do you have a ton of steaks unthawed waiting to cook? What about the soup of the day? Do you make just one big pot and hope you sell it all? What about stuff like lasagna that takes hours to bake? It tastes too good to all be frozen, but maybe you guys are just good at cooking frozen things.

3

A friend who works in the kitchen at Olive Garden assured me their lasagna indeed comes frozen – like really high-end Stouffer’s lasagna!

4

Well, we’re more of the “steakhouse” oriented type of place, so we don’t have things like lasagna or baked dishes, really. But as for the steaks, our steaks are never frozen. Not before we get them, and not after. We basically just keep a lot on hand (and the fact that we get food deliveries every day but Sunday makes it so we don’t have to have too much on hand.) Sometimes we do run out of a certain cut, but other than our prime rib (which gets a set amount of loins put into the slow roaster in the morning and when they’re gone at the end of the night they’re gone till tomorrow,) that’s rare.

As for soups, for the most part, we don’t make them. Those do come frozen, and we heat up about gallon sized bags of them in a large kettle of simmering water (same thing for the mashed potatoes, but those are just from the fridge, not frozen.) Though one of our promo items this quarter is a soup that we do make on the premises, so for that one, we do just guess how much we’ll need and hope it lasts. Though usually we over guess and have a bit left over, and it can carry over to the next day, so it’s fine. The same thing goes with our chili (made on site and what’s left over is used the next day, usually just a couple quarts.)

5

I have noticed a trend of servers unable to serve the appetizer before the actual entree. This is irritating, and seems avoidable. When I was a server, we would order the appetizer, and then, when the appetizer had been served, send back the main course part of the order. This avoided the problem of getting your appetizer seconds before your entree, or even after.

I’ve never said anything about this, because I can’t bring myself to complain about anything, even if it’s a serious problem, which this isn’t. It does seem avoidable, though, and I do get very eye-rolly when the server blames the problem on the kitchen.

So … is there some new-fangled system in which the computer will not allow you to send back the order in stages, and you are actually forced to do it all at once? If there is, I promise to start believing the server that it’s the kitchen’s fault, and stop rolling my eyes at them after they walk off.

6

I don’t really have any questions for you, but I have to pop in and say that I have no clue why people hate these places. Chili’s and TGI Friday’s are some of my favorite places to eat - I ALWAYS get awesome service (better than any of the local places, IMO), and the food is great. I especially like the service I get at the TGI Fridays in Reno - I’ve never had to wait more than a minute or two for a drink refill, the food is always great, and the staff is friendly but not overfriendly. In fact, more often than not I get to the bottom of my drink, and the slurping sound alerts one of the waitstaff, who is there instantly asking if I’d like another drink. A lot of the time they bring me a fresh drink before I’m even all the way finished with mine.

…I’m a major TGI Fridays fangirl. The one in Reno is totally great. I highly suggest it to everyone who ever stops into Reno.

~Tasha

7

here’s my question: is the ketchup at the bottom of the bottle really months old, as new stuff is poured on top every couple of days so the bottles stay full?

8

Mmmmm…floor pie.

9

It works like you described where I work. The servers put in the appetizers, and the ticket for it prints out at the salad/fry station (since where I work most of the apps are deep fried.) The dinner order doesn’t always come in after the app is made or sent out, but it is always put in after the app order is sent in (usually several minutes later.) The only time people get apps late at our place is if the ticket is lost, the server forgot to punch it in, or there is some kind of other problem (a fryer is not working, ran out of X sauce and need to go make some more, etc…)

I don’t know what’s going on at the place(s) you frequent, but it’s possible they do have a system where it’s all put in at once. But even then, the apps are pretty much always faster to make than the entrees, so it still seems odd that that would be happening.

10

I know bottles are refilled, but I don’t know the exact procedure. I think the ones already “on the floor,” as it were, are poured into each other to get as many full as can be, then the empty ones tossed and replaced with new ones. So in theory, the odds of the same bottles always being the ones to get filled and not get tossed is rare, but I suppose it’s possible that one could have old ketchup in it, yes. However, I don’t think a lot of microbes like to live in ketchup due to the high acid content.

11

Or, even worse, the entree sits in a cubbyhole while I finish my salad.

tashabot, it’s not that I dislike those places, it’s that they’re bland and ordinary. I’m happy to go with a group from work, or when I’m travelling and am sick or tired and need somewhere predictable.

Certainly, as bouv mentions, a locally owned place could be bad - I don’t go there again. The restaurants at home that I frequently frequent are, without exception, locally owned. I find the good ones and I keep giving them my money.

12

How many pieces of flair do you wear? Don’t you think you use a few more?

13

Why, oh why do you keep putting more pepper into the shaker that is still 95% full. Do you not realize that after 30 or so iterations of this process, only flakes of pepper that are to large to pass through the holes in the cap remain within the shaker, thus turning the shaker into little more than an ugly table decoration?

14

Ketchup can go bad. As I said in that thread, to the best of my knowledge, it is and always has been against healh regulations to marry ketchups - but I know a LOT of restaurants don’t tell their servers that.

15

Have you seen the movie Waiting?

If so, how accurate is it?

It does depict floor food, and also how really really rude customers are dealt with! It’s a hilarious movie.

16

I always wondered if those little bottles are ever put in the refidgerator? Or is the stuff antiseptic? has anyone ever died of tabasco poisoning?

17

I worked in the kitchen at a T.G.I Fridays and I worked the fry station and sautee station too. To be fair in reguards to floor food, I still do that at home but I just eat the dropped pieces myself. It ain’t killed me yet. Although once while cleaning out a freezer at work, I found a frozen breaded chicken patty that seemed to have fallen out of it’s box and upon inspection didn’t look or smell bad. I figured it would make a decent (read: free) dinner before I left for the day. I fryed it up and made a sandwich which I ate. I have never been so ill in my life, apparently this patty had been in the freezer since the last time they had cleaned the freezer which must have been during the Nixon administration.

18

Let’s talk oils, specifically the ones for deep frying – transfats, or no?

19

How are the run-of-the-mill entrees cooked? I have heard that, with the exception of steak, everything is microwaved.

20

How do you get the steaks right. When grilling at home, I always have to cut mine open to see if it is medium rare.

Also, on a busy night, do you have some ready to go rare, some ready to go medium etc?

The steak thing has always amazed me (except when they get it wrong).