Start a fake restaurant and then order directly from Sysco.

I really liked the giant pretzels at a brewery near me. Sat near the kitchen until I saw the box they pulled them out of. Learned I could buy 75 online for the price of 5 there.

Even just the frozen food at your normal grocery store is really good. I'm pretty sure some of it it sourced in the same place these restaurants get their food. (I'm pretty sure I can get McDonald's hash browns at my local Kroger.)

If you tend to buy in bulk, you might want to check out restaurant supply places like GFS. If I am doing bulk baking or cooking, I will sometimes pick up a few things from them. They are open to the public and sell a lot of stuff that restaurants use, too.

Some of the stuff in the freezer section is pretty high quality. I recently got a shrimp entree on sale that could easily pass for restaurant quality.

Also, don't sleep on frozen vegetables. The quality is second only to fresh and you can also get "restaurant" versions covered in cheese, butter, and even roasted.

Shitty restaurants just microwave their food. Real restaurants actually cook the food. You could cut out the middle man by making your own food from raw ingredients.

Sysco foods.

Where does Applebee's get their potato skins?

I'll give you instructions for making potato skins.

1. Since you referenced food from Applebee's, first you're going to need to wean yourself off whatever drugs you're on so you can tell the difference between food and what Applebee's sells.

2. wash and dry some potatoes.

3. pierce the potatoes several times, all around the outside with a fork.

4. bake the potatoes in a preheated 400° F. oven until you can easily insert your poking fork all the way to the center of the potato (probably about an hour, depending on the potatoes).

5. take the potatoes out of the oven and let them cool down.

6. slice each potato in half

7. scoop out the insides of each potato, leaving about a quarter inch thickness for the skins. Last time I did this, I used a melon baller and deep-fried all the potato balls.

8. deep fry the scooped out skins at about 375°. I prefer beef tallow for frying.

9. when they are golden brown, take them out and set them aside to drain.

10. cook bacon until crispy, then ~~brake~~ break it up into small pieces.

11. arrange all the fried potato skins on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

12. season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

13. fill each potato skin with shredded cheddar cheese, and sprinkle bacon pieces on top.

14. bake in the oven at 350° until the cheese melts.

Serve with sour cream and chopped scallions.

I got a deep fryer for mozzarella sticks they're straight 🔥

Many places in the US get their supply from Sysco: https://shop.sysco.com/

I had a catalogue once from a convenience food supplier for commercial kitchens. It was a very interesting read. Imagine chicken broth powder in buckets of 10kg, no idea how much broth this makes. Frozen stuff of all kinds, up to "grilled fish" of some sort, to be regenerated in a warm water bath, complete with fake grill stripes. Absolutely crazy stuff.

Its called a supermarket

Well, some of the foods at chains like that are made by either their own food factory, or under contract to a company that does it. I can't tell you what chains and what foods in specific because it's been too long since I discovered this.

But, it means that you've got a couple of options.

The most realistic is you just hope that the chain sells their stuff in grocery stores. Some do. Iirc, tgif sells a goodly number of its appetizers that way. I wanna say Applebees does too, but I don't really pay attention to that section of the freezer aisle.

Less realistic, but not impossible, is to check at the restaurant. Some of them will actually sell the products like that. It's pretty rare, and you'll pay the full retail price, but you can then take it home and heat it up yourself.

And, sometimes, you'll find employees stealing the stuff and selling it. No bullshit, it happens. Happens in fast food as well, for that matter. Used to know a guy that would take requests from burger king. You catch him on the right day, you could get a giant box of the whopper patties for twenty bucks. He'd just pad the waste reports over a few days, and afaik, nobody ever caught on.

But, yeah, pre cooked chain restaurant food is usually produced in bulk at a factory, same as your typical frozen foods ata grocery store. Just with bigger packages. Have a cousin that used to work at one, though I can't remember which chain it was.

If the only restaurant you go to is applebees and TGI Fridays's and the like, sure. They're already available in store.

You could batch cook the things you like from healthy ingredients. That way you too can microwave your food right from the freezer and have your own private restaurant. Welcome to Chez Moi!

Schwan's is basically this. I haven't seen one of their trucks in forever, but I think COVID really helped their business model.

In France and Sweden we have Picard who sells frosen high quality food.