Are chain restaraunts obligated to get all their food from a supplier?

[MPB_in_Salt_Lake]

@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)

[silenus]

@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.

[longhair75]

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.

[BigT]

@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.

[MPB_in_Salt_Lake]

@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…

[norinew]

@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.

[Mister_Rik]

@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.