How do restaurants like Chili's and Applebees cook their food so fast.?

Question

I mean a grill a steak at home, make rice, and steam vegetables at home and it takes me a lot longer than the 20 minutes it takes these restaurants to cook the same meal.

Answer 1

Their called prep cooks. they are the ones that are there at five and six in the morning getting the food ready what can't be fried grilled or broiled is kept in a warmer. It's all ready for the cooks to put in the oven throughout the day when needed. It's not microwaved. lol. I've worked in alot of corp.  restaurants. It's the prep cooks. And every place I've worked made steaks made to order. From the fridge to the grill. Never pre-cooked.  Cooks work hard at what they do. And I give props to all restaurant workers. The plates are hot because when the plate the food it goes under a heat lamp which is VERY hot to be trayed and taken to your table. It only take a min under the lamp before that plate hot. It too is not  microwaved. And the things that come pre cooked ( not by preps) are sauces. Their is only one restaurant I worked that did that.

Answer 2

Most of it is pre-made and sitting in heaters until you order it.  It is NOT microwaved, people!  The plates are hot because they are sitting under heat lamps right before the food is taken out.  Would you want your hot food on a cold plate?  I don't think so.  Idiots....

Answer 3

microwaving frozen food takes them about 5 minutes.

Answer 4

Believe it or not, alot of their food comes in precooked. All they do is microwave it. For things such as rice, it is held in a steam table ready to serve.

Answer 5

Most, ( if not all ) of the food is precooked, placed on a plate, and microwaved... that's why they always caution that the plate is hot.......

Answer 6

i guess they have the sides already prepared so the twenty min.wait is for the steak itself

Answer 7

I'm sure they have the rice and vegetables already made, then it doesn't take long at all to make a steak.

Answer 8

magic

Answer 9

There are only so many items on their menu - and they've got a pretty good idea as to how many steaks they'll serve on a Tuesday, for example...

So they can cook steaks part of the way, and then just finish them off to the desired doneness - medium, well done or whatever.  Rice + vegetables, they probably cook up a big batch so it's on hand whenever they need it.

You have to think big - cooking for a lot of people, instead of just one.  A restaurant can cook up big batches of all the meal's components, then it's just a question of assembly time.

Watch a show like "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" on Food Network - assuming that things aren't pre-cooked as some people have suggested - you'll get a better idea about the "Big Batch" style of cooking.