Disappointing discoveries that McMillan makes

In Chapter 9, the “Kitchen Spy” McMillan makes several disappointing discoveries about the food system at her Applebee’s workplace. One of these is learning that many items on their menu are not made from scratch in-house but instead come pre-made from outside sources and are reheated or put together on-site. She notes that “Many of Applebee’s signature dishes—like its Four Cheese Mac & Cheese with Honey Pepper Chicken Tenders—are frozen foods, shipped to the restaurant already cooked. All employees have to do is heat them up when they get an order” (Elliott). Thus, despite the impression that these meals were created fresh and in-house through using quality ingredients, customers ultimately receive a pre-cooked dish which has little variance between locations. McMillan also acknowledges how much excess waste there can be within this system as well. For instance, she mentions how “The back room was filled with supplies our kitchen staff had been sent by corporate…we would often get more than we needed for a particular recipe and just throw it away whenever we ran out of whatever meal went with it” (Elliott). Here then, due to never knowing exactly how many people will order specific dishes each day or night, larger amounts of ingredients arrive than what may be required resulting in subsequent wastage being disposed of instead of used. Overall then, McMillan discovers through her experiences as a Kitchen Spy that despite the consistency across multiple Applebee's restaurants regarding particular meals being served; much of what these establishments serve originates from elsewhere and excess materials may lead to wastefulness if adequate amounts cannot be utilized before expiring or going off.