I didn't realise cheesecake factory make everything from scratch. What chains in the UK do the same?

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DangerousDisplay7664@reddit

What do you mean “from scratch” they get every single individual ingredient in and turn those ingredients into ALL the food they sell? They don’t have anything frozen that they reheat, or don’t have anything with more than 1 single ingredient in? I highly doubt that, especially in America!

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Agile_Horror_9413@reddit

Yes that exactly what from scratch means, how are people having such a hard time with this or are they just being difficult

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ukslim@reddit

Not allowed to buy in cheese, or bread, passata tinned tomatoes, ketchup, pre-ground spices, dough, pastry, pasta, kimchi, pickled jalapenos?

The point is, if there's a line, it's not clear where it is. One person's going to say it's OK to use pancake batter mix, another's going to say if you don't ferment your own kimchi it's cheating.

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DangerousDisplay7664@reddit

Thank you for explaining that better than I did 😁

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mdmnl@reddit

"We source our primordial ooze from ..."

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frogsinsoup@reddit

Their cheesecakes aren’t even made by them!

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DangerousDisplay7664@reddit

Excuse me?! 😳

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frogsinsoup@reddit

Yup! They’re bought in!!

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AllThatIHaveDone@reddit

Maybe the third-party that makes the cheesecakes is called Scratch?

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mdmnl@reddit

I'm starting ghost kitchens called: "Family Recipe"; "Homemade daily", and; "Nonna's own"

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frogsinsoup@reddit

🤣🤣

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No-Beat2678@reddit (OP)

I think some of the pizza chains do, Rudy's, and some of the burger places eg Byron

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No-Beat2678@reddit (OP)

So there was a documentary on YouTube about CCF's new menu and they showed the kitchens preparing the food the vast vast majority was from scratch.

I was surprised so see that they were roasting fresh tomatoes in the oven for their sauces. Preparing vegetables etc.

I know they're American but I wondered if anywhere in the UK does this?

Yes some stuff pre bought but they're making sauces from scratch, marinating meat, butchering etc.

Closest I could think of was Byron?

Or what about that Napoli Pizza chain? Rudy's? I think they do everything from scratch AND are a chain

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Success_With_Lettuce@reddit

Didn’t even realise they were in the UK, eaten at them in the Middle East a fair few times and in the US, the food is pretty decent I find.

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DangerousDisplay7664@reddit

They aren’t in the UK. OP has likely never been to one.

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No-Beat2678@reddit (OP)

It was in a documentary I was watching about their new menu release and they were showing the levels they went to making the sauces from scratch for example. Roasting the tomato's for the pizza sauce, Bolognese sauce etc.

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Jjkbnymop@reddit

Do you know that we are allowed to leave the country?

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split-tennisball@reddit

I don't think OP has claimed they did.

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whistlepuff@reddit

They don't.

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Success_With_Lettuce@reddit

Well OK then. I presumed by OPs post they were, maybe in London with one branch or something.

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box-o-locks@reddit

"Cheesecake Factory" aren't in the UK?

So why is the OP telling us all about Cheesecake Factory?

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ukslim@reddit

It can be read as "I'm aware of an American chain that does this - please tell me about UK chains that do the same".

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baronsameday@reddit

Botty Bot Bots

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SAustin87@reddit

Because they want to know anyone over here that does the same? It’s right there in the post…

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split-tennisball@reddit

They're proving an example of something and then asking if anyone has any UK based ones.

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Agile_Horror_9413@reddit

I'm sorry you got such a bunch of pendants today.

Umh excuse me by make from scratch do you mean make everything fresh? Yes that literally the fucking meaning

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split-tennisball@reddit

Um actually you didn't grow the wheat so it's not "from scratch" 🤓☝️

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Agile_Horror_9413@reddit

That's farming dickead

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UnacceptableUse@reddit

!dick

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split-tennisball@reddit

I was agreeing with you and making fun of the pedants.

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Agile_Horror_9413@reddit

Oh my bad

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hdhxuxufxufufiffif@reddit

I don't know what "Cheesecake Factory" is but I googled if they bake their own bread and it says the venues receive parbaked bread from a factory and finish them off in the oven.

If that's the case for the "everything from scratch" chain then maybe the premise of the question deserved pedants?

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ukslim@reddit

In that case no fast food chain does it. Including Cheesecake Factory.

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Direct_Highlight_118@reddit

McDonald's

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Hate_Feight@reddit

Somehow, I have very sincere doubts about this one.

Yes, some items will/ can be made fresh, but I get the feeling that the main menu items are premade

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ukslim@reddit

Well, a Big Mac is a bread roll, some salad, two burger patties, cheese and some sauce. The burgers are cooked to order, then it's assembled and wrapped.

The minced meat is squashed into patties in a factory. Does that disqualify claims of being made from scratch.

The bread isn't made on site. Does that disqualify? The cheese isn't made on site. But I imagine neither is the cheese used by Cheesecake Factory.

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Hate_Feight@reddit

I would say yes, like subway 'finishing' their rolls in the oven doesn't count, but we are arguing semantics at this point. Which is all opinion

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frogsinsoup@reddit

I worked in subway for a time. The bread obviously comes in frozen, but the rest of it, like the proving, coating, baking etc is all done in store. Theres no way subway could make its own bread starter each day!

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Hate_Feight@reddit

All so they can pay minimum wage, or less. Yeah it's fresh, but doesn't make it made from scratch

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frogsinsoup@reddit

Minimum wage? What subway have you worked at? The wages are set by the franchisee, if you work hard you get paid more 🤷‍♀️ That being said, it does take allot of work to make the bread there, but yeah it isn’t ’from scratch’ but it’s the closest thing to it

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Hate_Feight@reddit

Compared to what it would cost to have a dedicated baker, and the training involved to be at the level that every roll is the same across stores, yeah everyone in a subway gets paid basically minimum wage...

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ukslim@reddit

Sure, but many home cooks would make something with shop-bought bread, and describe it as being made from scratch.

(Say, a lasagne with breadcrumb topping)

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ukslim@reddit

Well yes, which is why I'm asking OP to clarify their semantics.

I could make a cheesecake at home, but argue it wasn't "from scratch" because I used a packet of digestive biscuits.

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FelisCantabrigiensis@reddit

Pret a Manger, somewhat surprisingly, is fairly close. They assemble all their sandwiches on-site (or nearby, if the retail location is too small), bake the pastries on-site (from chilled pastry prepared elsewhere), etc. That's as much as any independent sandwich shop would do, or more (a lot of independent sandwich shops buy in their pastries and cakes ready made).

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frogsinsoup@reddit

Everything but their cheesecakes. Once you realise that, it’s allot less impressive.

It may be a large chain, but remember, they employ a large team of staff.

The fact it’s called ‘effort’ is insane. Restaurants should have fresh food, and it shouldn’t be a novelty

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banwe11@reddit

Why "should" restaurants have fresh food? Surely it's up to a restaurant how it wants to operate and demand will dictate whether it's succeasful or not.

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frogsinsoup@reddit

Because fresh food is why people choose to eat at restaurants. I’ve worked at many, and had years experience of being a restaurant manager. I assure you- restaurants are more well received and visited when the ingredients are fresh and understood.

Fast food chains are the exception.

Fresh food is better food. If i pay for a meal out and it’s come from bags, or frozen, I’d ask for a refund and leave. But that’s just my two cents

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FelisCantabrigiensis@reddit

All true - and even for fast food, it matters. KFC make a point of using only fresh chicken, even though it has a lot more logistics problems and costs them more.

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banwe11@reddit

Not really, depends on where the restaurant is pitching itself in the market. You don't speak for all people - many people choose to eat at restaurants because of the novelty of eating out and the social experience, regardless of how the food is prepared. Chains like Zizzi somehow manage to survive and get repeat custom when I'm pretty sure a lot of their menu will be assembled from pre-cooked or frozen.

Also sometimes I quite like to order slow cooked lamb shank or beef brisket - I certainly don't expect that to be freshly cooked upon order as it would take several hours to be served.

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frogsinsoup@reddit

If a restaurant is choosing to pitch itself off of frozen food, that’s their prerogative. It automatically means they’re a lazy restaurant 🤷‍♀️

You’re making it quite obvious that you don’t know how a kitchen works.

The beef brisket wouldn’t be ‘made to order’. It’s made on the day and then prepared onto the meal when you order it.

Chains will always have more frozen food. But it’s a chain. Not a proper restaurant.

If a chain wants to pride itself on frozen food, great, because it’s all about profit to them. Why would you even want to eat there?

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banwe11@reddit

As I said, I would want to eat at a restaurant that uses frozen/pre-cooked food because of the novelty of eating out or for the social experience, or for other reasons like convenient location, parking, child friendly... etc. As a customer, I base my opinion on the taste/appearance of the food in front of me and the atmosphere and I dont't really question the provenance of the food as long as it tastes good - and I'm sure many people do the same.

I'vw had many nice experiences at places like Zizzi, Turtle Bay, etc, which I am pretty sure use frozen/pre-cooked food. Furthermore it's clear you're going to keep changing your definition of restaurant to support the point you're making there's no point in engaging further.

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frogsinsoup@reddit

Okay! Frozen food sucks. Have a good day 🥰

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ukslim@reddit

Almost all chains, and many pubs, either reheat frozen food from factories, or assemble meals from a mixture of ready made and fresh components.

Somewhere like Las Iguanas, all the tapas are from the freezer. Pizza chains have frozen pizza dough, sometimes frozen pizza bases. The marinara sauce for pizzas. Ready-sliced cheese and meats. Pasta sauces. Tinned chilli con carne. Pre-poached eggs. Hollandaise sauce from a jar. Dauphinoise potatoes in a vacuum packed bag. These are all staples in sit-down knife-and-fork restaurants that ordinary people happily dine in by choice.

Fresh food is better, of course it is. But it's also more difficult to produce at restaurant scale, so those restaurants are rarer and more expensive.

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frogsinsoup@reddit

Las iguanas focuses on the drinks, and you know that.

But that’s also a chain. All of these are chains. Which are not real restaurants. It’s just fast food 🤷‍♀️ You’re proving my point, to be honest.

These chains exists solely to make a profit.

Real restaurants serve fresh, good food. Idc if it makes me elitist or snobby. If it’s frozen, and being charged real meal prices for, i’m getting a refund. My last job sold meat butchered on site, cooked down and you’d see the bones in the bins.

They charged £14 for a main, using this meat. It fills you up. It’s local, well produced food. I could spend £14 at a chain and get 4 chicken strips and some frozen fries, that wouldn’t even vaguely fill me up and is mostly preservatives.

Chains focus on profit. They’re a horrible example of restaurants, and they’re the reason real restaurants suffer so much. People’s view of how much to spend on food is so skewed now.

I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree.

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ukslim@reddit

You must be thinking of a different Las Iguanas to me. It's a chain of "Latin inspired" restaurants where you sit down at a table to eat. Used to be mostly tapas, but has leaned into Brazilian-inspired curries lately in an effort to revitalise their image.

You can go in for cocktails, but food is the primary business. Similar market segment to Ask, Wildwood, Turtle Bay, Carluccio's, The Real Greek, etc.

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frogsinsoup@reddit

The Las iguanas we have here is bottomless brunch, it’s a scam, and it’s frozen food with watered down drinks 🤦‍♀️ Yours sounds so much better

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ukslim@reddit

The one I'm talking about is still frozen food. Like most chains a dish like the Brazilian curry will be assembled to order from prepackaged components. So they'll have a weekly delivery of the various curry sauces, meat, and a daily delivery of fresh vegetables. When a customer orders, the kitchen will follow a very prescriptive process of heating the sauce, adding veg at the right time, plating.

It's a ready-meal, but improved with fresh elements.

I bit like when at home I make some 3-minute instant ramen, but then add my own beansprouts, chicken, boiled egg, spring onion...

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ukslim@reddit

What do you mean specifically by "from scratch"? On the premises?

Even McDonald's ketchup is made from scratch in a sense - ingredients go into the factory, ketchup comes out.

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Agile_Horror_9413@reddit

Oh Reddit, you know exactly what they mean

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Tim-Sanchez@reddit

I'm not sure why everyone in the comments is having such difficulty with the question. Yes there's different specific interpretations, but we can understand the spirit of the question and it clearly doesn't include assembling a McDonald's burger.

Nobody even attempting to provide a relevant answer is odd.

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ukslim@reddit

Yet nobody will actually say what it means.

Two people now saying it's "obvious" what it means, but failing to actually explain.

McDonald's making the components of a burger in their own factories, then assembling on site doesn't count, then.

What about GBK making a burger, where they mince and shape it on site. Does that count? Why?

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split-tennisball@reddit

It's made with the ingredients in store, not offsite and delivered

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ukslim@reddit

Tut, you didn't mince the beef at home. You used tinned kidney beans.

This is the point, you've identified two ends of a continuum, there's a whole spectrum in-between.

If I put the line in one place, McDonald's makes everything from scratch. If I put the line somewhere else, McDonald's doesn't, but GBK does. If I move the line again, nobody does it because the ketchup isn't made daily on site from fresh tomatoes.

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split-tennisball@reddit

You're just being pedantic at this point. It's obvious what it means.

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ukslim@reddit

So in conclusion, KFC is made from scratch, and all fast food chains cook some dishes from scratch.

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split-tennisball@reddit

🙄

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split-tennisball@reddit

Redditors being pedantic bellends is pretty standard.

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ukslim@reddit

I honestly don't. Tell me.

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Klichouse@reddit

What

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t8ne@reddit

Guess they mean not from sysco (or similar)?

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ukslim@reddit

Well, most big fast food chains don't get their food from a generic wholesaler.

Like, a McDonald's apple pie is mass-produced in a huge factory and (I assume) distributed frozen. It's an archetypal heat-and-serve processed junk food.

But it's still made by McDonald's out of flour and fat and apples and sugar. "From scratch".

Just looking for clarity what unique property OP is looking for here - pastry mixed on the premises? Hand mixed? Freshly baked?

I understand the spirit of the question but it's vague.

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t8ne@reddit

Not saying I agree with it, just tying to work out what they were on about…

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palpatineforever@reddit

Wenzel’s the Bakers make their baguettes same day they sell them.
Obviously drinks are not made from scratch but many things are, the bread, the sandwiches etc.
Also they are very tastey, for a sandwhich lunch I rate them above almost all similar places.
https://www.wenzels.co.uk/about-us/

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