# Are chain restaraunts obligated to get all their food from a supplier? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 7, 2009, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chain-restaraunts-obligated-to-get-all-their-food-from-a-supplier/512917 "2009-10-07T09:47:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chain-restaraunts-obligated-to-get-all-their-food-from-a-supplier/512917/21 "2009-10-11T23:13:33Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > QFT! We rented a room for a while to a girl who worked at McDonald’s. She smelled like french fry grease _all the freakin’ time_, even when her work uniform was freshly laundered and she was freshly showered! > > As to the OP, yeah, by my experience, some places _must_ buy only from approved suppliers. Hubby and I were eating in a chain restaurant some months ago (I want to say it was a Ruby Tuesday, but it could have been a TGIFriday’s or something), and he ordered a crab cake. He wanted tartar sauce to go with it (yeah, he’s a heathen like that:p ), and was informed they were _out_ of tartar sauce. Out of tartar sauce??? Dude, there’s a supermarket _next door_. Send someone to get some! (That’s pretty much what he said to the waiter, but he was more polite about it), and we were informed, in no uncertain terms, that such things _simply were not allowed_. The tartar sauce they served _had_ to be the same tartar sauce served at _every_ Ruby Tuesday’s (or whatever). All the time. > > As mentioned upthread, I’m sure there are franchises that have somewhat looser rules. But some of them are _insane_ about it. > > Of course, the upside to these rules would be: if you go to a chain restaurant, no matter what state you’re in, you know what you’ll get. A Fillet O’ Fish in Greenbow, AL, is going to taste _exactly_ the same as a Fillet O’ Fish in Eugene, OR. That’s why people pay such insane prices to _buy_ franchises; they’re getting all that guaranteed business from people who want to know _what to expect_. In a situation like that, I wonder if you ordered the fish and chips meal (if they have one) would they inform you that they were out of tartar sauce before bringing it to you? This is all hypothetical, but if someone kicked up a fuss, would they give you the incomplete meal on the house, or allow you to order something else? (FTR—I dont much care for tartar sauce, but I know that some people cant seem to eat a piece of fish without a gallon or two of it) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chain-restaraunts-obligated-to-get-all-their-food-from-a-supplier/512917/22 "2009-10-11T23:39:12Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > In a situation like that, I wonder if you ordered the fish and chips meal (if they have one) would they inform you that they were out of tartar sauce before bringing it to you? > > This is all hypothetical, but if someone kicked up a fuss, would they give you the incomplete meal on the house, or allow you to order something else? > > (FTR—I dont much care for tartar sauce, but I know that some people cant seem to eat a piece of fish without a gallon or two of it) They freaking well better inform me beforehand, or there will definitely be “a fuss.” I usually just use malt vinegar, with just a bit of tartar, but the failure to have it on hand would not bode well for the manager. This, of course, excludes any restaurant that actually serves fish any other way that battered and fried. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chain-restaraunts-obligated-to-get-all-their-food-from-a-supplier/512917/23 "2009-10-11T23:44:02Z")
I worked at a Fish and Chip shop my senior year in high school. I thought I would never get that smell out of my hair and clothes. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chain-restaraunts-obligated-to-get-all-their-food-from-a-supplier/512917/24 "2009-10-12T00:24:45Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > QFT! We rented a room for a while to a girl who worked at McDonald’s. She smelled like french fry grease _all the freakin’ time_, even when her work uniform was freshly laundered and she was freshly showered! > > As to the OP, yeah, by my experience, some places _must_ buy only from approved suppliers. Hubby and I were eating in a chain restaurant some months ago (I want to say it was a Ruby Tuesday, but it could have been a TGIFriday’s or something), and he ordered a crab cake. He wanted tartar sauce to go with it (yeah, he’s a heathen like that:p ), and was informed they were _out_ of tartar sauce. Out of tartar sauce??? Dude, there’s a supermarket _next door_. Send someone to get some! (That’s pretty much what he said to the waiter, but he was more polite about it), and we were informed, in no uncertain terms, that such things _simply were not allowed_. The tartar sauce they served _had_ to be the same tartar sauce served at _every_ Ruby Tuesday’s (or whatever). All the time. I know quite a lot of people who would walk out after being given such a response. It boggles my mind that such politics is considered more important than keeping the customer happy. Do they really think the customer who specifically asks to get them tartar sauce from the store is going to sue you for doing what they ask? You know, with this overly litigious society, maybe they have a point. Just another way the love of money is [del]the root of all evil[/del] screwing the world for the rest of us. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chain-restaraunts-obligated-to-get-all-their-food-from-a-supplier/512917/25 "2009-10-12T00:31:49Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I know quite a lot of people who would walk out after being given such a response. It boggles my mind that such politics is considered more important than keeping the customer happy. Do they really think the customer who specifically asks to get them tartar sauce from the store is going to sue you for doing what they ask? > > You know, with this overly litigious society, maybe they have a point. Just another way the love of money is [del]the root of all evil[/del] screwing the world for the rest of us. If I owned a place that ran out of some random condiment (like tartar sauce) I would zip to the supermarket and get a replacement to keep a customer happy, without any second thought. Going to get some replacement main ingrediant (like chicken in the case of the KFC that ran out in the example upthread) not so much… ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chain-restaraunts-obligated-to-get-all-their-food-from-a-supplier/512917/26 "2009-10-12T00:48:59Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > In a situation like that, I wonder if you ordered the fish and chips meal (if they have one) would they inform you that they were out of tartar sauce before bringing it to you? > > This is all hypothetical, but if someone kicked up a fuss, would they give you the incomplete meal on the house, or allow you to order something else? > > (FTR—I dont much care for tartar sauce, but I know that some people cant seem to eat a piece of fish without a gallon or two of it) Well, at a place like McDonald’s, where the Fillet O’ Fish _comes_ with tartar sauce, I’d think they’d tell you. In our case, the crab cake my husband ordered wasn’t _advertised_ as being served with tartar sauce. If memory serves, it was advertised (on the menu) as being served with some spicy sauce. He doesn’t like ‘spicy’. The waiter was competent enough to tell us, though, when hubby asked for tartar sauce “Uh, we’re out of that right now”. If we were in a McDonald’s, he ordered a Fillet O’ Fish (which would be pretty typical for him) and it just _came without tartar sauce_, with no explanation, he’d be pretty pissed. The same way I’d be pissed if I ordered a Double Cheeseburger and they were out of cheese and served me a double burger without telling me they were out of cheese. IOW, if the missing ingredient is an _integral_ part of the dish, I’d certainly expect them to state it up front. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chain-restaraunts-obligated-to-get-all-their-food-from-a-supplier/512917/27 "2009-10-12T01:35:38Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > It has extra strength grease remover to get rid of the french fry stink. More importantly you would need the body bath and hair shampoo. 🙂 I made all that up, but it’s logical. 😉 > [@norinew](#): > > QFT! We rented a room for a while to a girl who worked at McDonald’s. She smelled like french fry grease _all the freakin’ time_, even when her work uniform was freshly laundered and she was freshly showered! I started my restaurant career in fast food, and I discovered that the problem of the uniform retaining that french fry smell, even after laundering, mostly went away when places stopped with the polyester uniforms and went more cotton. For some reason, polyester just grabbed that smell and wouldn’t let go of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-chain-restaraunts-obligated-to-get-all-their-food-from-a-supplier/512917.md?page=1)