[stands2reason]

Chili's, Applebees, TGIFridays

Do you have a source that these restaurants add preservatives to their food?

[Jeff Chandler]

Do you have a source that these restaurants add preservatives to their food?

Don't you mean add food to their preservatives?

[adam_az]

Do you have a source that these restaurants add preservatives to their food?

Maybe they should, it might taste better.

[grania]

A few years ago I got sick on Chili's french fries, and the manager (while handing me coupons to eat free) said it could very well be that they had switched from fresh fries to frozen ones with the oil already fried in.

Next time I (stupidly) went into another Chili's, and it took over half an hour to get my salad. The reason they gave was they hadn't unpacked that delivery yet. I complained about the wait for the guaranteed fast lunch, and got more free coupons. I gave them to someone who looked borderline homeless. <^..^>

[volchef]

To answer your question briefly NO, because I don't have direct access to their recipes. HOWEVER I know that chain restaurant food is loaded with preservatives because my husband was offered a job in product development for a company that makes soups/stocks/bases/sauces/gravies for major chain restaurants. He turned the job down because he was so repulsed by the chemical element. Basically this firm(which is one of the nation's largest) has 5 recipe developers.....3 food scientists/chemists and 2 chefs. Getting these people on the same page is a difficult task I can assure you. Now, if you're wondering why these corporations need this the answer is simple: consistency. You simply cannot have a consistent final product at EVERY restaurant if they don't start with the exact same base and once you throw a human element into the situation consistency goes out the window. These corporations cannot afford to let a $9 an hour line cook be the creator of a recipe day in and out so if you notice they have pictures of the plates in the kitchens at these restaurants to tell the cooks where to put the pre-made sauce, the veggies, the meat etc. There's just no way for them to get around it. Hey, don't come after me because I just tell it the way it is. I have no problem with Chilis and Fridays.....people can eat whatever they want it's America for crying out loud, I just know that there is higher quality stuff out there and I prefer to eat it......my restaurant will probably fail while theirs will still be around 20 years from now.

[Xenalyte]

Do you have a source that these restaurants add preservatives to their food?

Chain restaurants, as this ex-Bennigan's waitress will tell you, get much of their signature food trucked in. Bennigan's Broccoli Bites, for example, are brought into each store by the huge bag - they aren't made on the premises. Each item you don't make that day has to be preserved.

The local store itself doesn't add preservatives to your food. It's done before packaging.