The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table

Chapter 8 opens with McMillan moving on to a different aspect of the American food system: restaurants. Having applied to five of the 21 Applebee’s restaurants in New York City, McMillan secures a job at a Brooklyn Applebee’s as an expediter, which means she’s responsible for orders looking like they’re supposed to—in other words, that the meals have all their garnishes and sauces. As such, she’s the last step in a line that ensures food is prepared as quickly as possible—“appetizers are supposed to be ready in seven minutes, entrees in fourteen” (190)—all of which is managed by a computer that spits out orders and flashes warnings when the kitchen is behind schedule.

From her position on the line, McMillan never sees the customers themselves, but according to her co-workers in the dining room and statistical data, they’re mostly likely in the middle class or slightly below. McMillan explains that the idea of middle-class restaurants like Applebee’s dates back to the 1950s, when an increasingly suburban middle class began eating out with greater frequency. Although MacDonald’s is often cited as the chain that popularized family dining, McMillan says other businesses laid the groundwork to make this possible—in particular, Howard Johnson’s. In the 1960’s Howard Johnson’s developed technology to scale up food production while maintaining quality.