Eli5: how do fast food franchises keep their recipes a secret and food tasting the same at different locations?
In: Economics
Via a commissary, basically a large factory that makes the food (or prepares the food/ingredients). For major chains like McDonalds, all their food comes either pre-mixed, pre-portioned, or at least the spice mix is already prepared. None of them actually make the food from scratch 100% like you’d expect a restaurant (in fact, even restaurants don’t make all their food 100% from scratch).
Chains like McDonalds also train for workers to do precisely the same movement or same cooking. There’s no “cook with your feelings” going on. Everything has a timer. Same ingredients + same cooking method makes taste consistent across all branches.
As for keeping recipes secret, that’s also why commissaries are there. With only one (or a few hundred) locations to consider, it’s significantly easier to lock down trade secrets vs inspecting and considering security for 13,000 stores.
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