10 Popular Chain Restaurants That Bake Their Bread Fresh

Artisan bakeries and small-scale restaurants are known for baking fresh bread from scratch every day, and that's exactly why you get that irresistible aroma whenever you walk past them. Chain restaurants, on the other hand, unfortunately have a bad reputation because most folks believe they all serve reheated frozen foods, including bread. In reality, however, this belief is half-baked (pun intended)!

Sure, some chains probably do use frozen bread loaves or buns and heat them right before serving. But just like many steakhouse chains that proudly serve never-frozen beef and fast food chains that never use frozen meat, quite a few popular chain restaurants also stay away from the frozen stuff and bake their bread fresh every single day, some even multiple times a day. And if you've been on the lookout for such chain restaurants, this list is for you.

However, before we get into details, you should know that some of the restaurants mentioned in this story use frozen, pre-shaped dough that's usually made off-site for their bread (so it doesn't come as a surprise later). This isn't a bad thing, though, because using frozen dough helps keep the quality consistent across all locations of these restaurants. Irrespective of the dough being frozen, one thing's for sure — the bread you'll get at these chains will still be freshly baked and taste just as good as the bread from chains that make their dough from scratch.

When Jimmy John's started off, it served only four varieties of submarine sandwiches. Today, this chain has a wide range of sandwiches (and a lot more). Despite the massive expansion of its menu over the years, one thing has remained consistent since day one – the bread is baked fresh daily.

The chain restaurant takes pride in serving delicious food that's made with really fresh ingredients, including veggies, cheese, and meats. So, it comes as no surprise that the French bread (most likely the chain's top-seller) is baked not just once a day, but in 4-hour intervals at all locations. When someone asked how the chain makes the bread taste so good on Quora, a former Jimmy John's franchise restaurant owner wrote: "Fresh bread. 4 hours after it comes out of the oven it is considered day old and can't be used for sandwiches." The wheat sandwich bread is treated with just as much care and is also baked fresh at every restaurant.

Since Jimmy John's is a massive chain with quite a few outlets in the United States, it's clear that keeping the bread's taste and texture consistent across all of them is also one of its top priorities. Hence, the dough isn't made on-site, but instead supplied to each location, according to a former employee on Reddit. The good news is that it isn't outsourced — it comes from a facility that's owned by the chain. Well, customers love the bread nonetheless. If you also think the bread is solid, try this hack that will get you more bread at Jimmy John's.

Even though Fuddruckers has been struggling a bit lately, there's one thing it hasn't compromised on since it first opened in 1980, and that is, you guessed it, baking fresh bread, or to be more precise, buns (also confirmed by current and former employees on Reddit). So, regardless of whether you get a crispy chicken sandwich, the Beyond Burger, or one of the classic hamburgers, you can be sure that the wheat, white, vegan, and gluten-free buns will all be just as fresh as what goes inside these burgers. That's exactly why Fuddruckers has written this statement on its website: "Of course you don't put the World's Greatest Hamburger on the World's second greatest bun."

Despite being a chain restaurant, Fuddruckers currently has very few locations in the United States. But that's a good thing in a way, because along with the buns being freshly baked, the dough is also made at every single location rather than off-site, using the simplest ingredients. All in all, don't sleep on Fuddruckers if you want to enjoy burgers made with freshly baked buns.

This chain restaurant is known for serving some pretty amazing seafood dishes. But the Cheddar Bay Biscuits have been stealing the show for many customers ever since they were added to the menu in 1992 (surprisingly, almost 25 years after the chain opened its first location). Apart from being cheesy, tasty, and the perfect side to all the seafood from Red Lobster, these biscuits are also loved by customers because they are baked fresh.

You might think that the chain bakes Cheddar Bay Biscuits a couple of times a day, but that isn't the case. They always arrive piping hot at your table because they are baked in 15-minute intervals. As a matter of fact, you're more likely to get a fresh batch after 15 minutes are up, as this is what a former employee wrote on Quora when someone asked why Red Lobster biscuits taste so good: "They're fresh. Only a fifteen minute holding time." 

The best part about these biscuits — of course, besides them being fresh and tasting amazing — is that they are unlimited as long as you're dining in, but a lot of people still forget to order extras. Now that you know, don't make this mistake when dining at Red Lobster.

Though Subway has changed the slogan slightly, it's evident that it still takes the original "Eat Fresh" pretty seriously. That's because, despite being one of the largest chain restaurants in the world, the bread is still baked fresh at every single Subway location every day, just like it has been since 1983. While some locations stick to baking fresh bread once a day, others actually bake it in the morning and then again in the evening, according to a former employee on Reddit.

The dough, however, isn't made at every location. That isn't surprising, given that Subway has many locations and it needs to keep the quality of the bread consistent everywhere. The good thing is that the chain was vocal about it too, as it gave a shoutout to its suppliers in 2015.

For those of you who are intrigued about how the dough arrives at every Subway location and how it is baked fresh after that, here's what a former employee wrote on Quora: "It's shipped in, frozen and in boxes. They defrost them overnight in the fridge, which kick starts the proofing process. They're then proofed, and baked on site." So while the dough might not be made fresh in-store, the bread definitely is, and it's also undeniably tasty. If you're confused about which variety is worth getting, we've ranked every Subway bread option to help you decide.

Texas Roadhouse is known for serving really good comfort food like steak, ribs, starters, salads, and chicken... You name it. While all the menu items are delicious, customers can't get enough of the hot bread rolls served with honey cinnamon butter. One reason could be that they are complementary and also unlimited, and the other one is surely the fact that these rolls are baked fresh at every location. Interestingly, these rolls aren't just baked once or a couple of times a day. Instead, they are baked at five-minute intervals constantly throughout the day, which is the reason why Texas Roadhouse rolls are always so soft! If this isn't the epitome of fresh bread, what is?

What's even better is that this chain doesn't use pre-made or frozen dough. The only thing that comes pre-made for the rolls at every Texas Roadhouse location, according to an employee on Reddit, is the flour mix, which is fair, as the chain needs to ensure consistency. But the rest of the process — from making the dough to forming the rolls, proofing them, and eventually baking them — all happens on-site.

Jersey Mike's has had the same goal since it opened in 1956 (though that restaurant was called Mike's Submarines): serving tasty, fresh sandwiches made with good quality ingredients. So, it isn't surprising that the chain still bakes fresh bread daily.

This chain has over 3,000 stores across America. And so, even though the bread is baked fresh at every location, the dough does arrive frozen at all of them, according to a former employee on Reddit. A Jersey Mike's employee confirmed this in a video on their channel, "That Crazy Sub Guy," on YouTube, and also stated why the chain uses frozen dough. "In the original Jersey Mike's they used to get their bread from ... a local bakery. And then when they started franchising, they tried to do the same thing but they saw that the quality was just not the same. You can't make Jersey bread with California water, it's all about the water." They also mentioned that the chain gets the dough from a frozen dough supplier company named Guttenplan's in New Jersey, saying, "They ship it out from New Jersey to the stores so that they have a consistent product."

The frozen dough is also pre-shaped into subs, and the bakers are supposed to thaw them first, then lay them out on trays, proof them, and eventually bake them. This process is followed for Jersey Mike's white, rosemary Parmesan, and wheat bread. This chain restaurant also makes its gluten-free bread this way, so if you're gluten intolerant and have been sleeping on this option, that's a Jersey Mike's ordering assumption you shouldn't make anymore.

Many of you might not have heard of Cousins Subs, as most of this chain restaurant's locations are in Wisconsin, with a couple in Indiana. But those who have been there and like it will be really happy to know that this chain bakes its bread several times throughout the day. Cousins Subs has continued the legacy of baking fresh bread ever since two cousins (hence the name) opened the first location a little over five decades ago, back in 1972.

Though the bread is baked on-site at all Cousins Subs locations, the dough is indeed made elsewhere. Just like many other chains, it usually arrives pre-shaped and frozen. The reason behind using frozen dough is that the chain still makes it the same way as the cousins who started it all did. So, making the dough in large batches at a single place helps keep the quality consistent across all locations and the taste exactly as it was over half a century ago. One thing's for sure, though, frozen dough or not, all the sandwiches made with freshly-baked Italian, Multi-Grain, Garlic Herb, or Parmesan Asiago bread are still pretty delicious.

Schlotzsky's is another chain restaurant that has a vast menu featuring all sorts of comfort foods, like sandwiches, pizzas, flatbreads, calzones, and a lot more. Most customers love all these items at the chain, and one reason is, of course, that the chain bakes fresh bread daily at all its locations. Schlotzsky's doesn't just bake the bread on-site, but also the pizza bases, according to a current employee on Reddit.

This chain, despite having 288 restaurants spread across many states in America, doesn't use frozen dough that's made off-site (not that frozen dough is a bad thing). Instead, the bread, pizza, and other doughs are also made fresh at every outlet.

A baker from Schlotzsky's actually mentioned how the bread is made at every location in a YouTube video: "There's a whole process. We've got to put it into the proofer, then we have to put them in the oven, take them out of the oven, and got to let them cool down to a certain temperature. It's like a science project." That's one of the reasons why Schlotzsky's doesn't promise to serve food quickly, because the staff actually takes time to prepare fresh food (including dough) from scratch.

This chain is relatively new compared to most others on this list, as it started in 2010. Irrespective of that, one thing's undebatable — Hopdoddy Burger Bar serves pretty solid burgers made with freshly baked buns. Serving specially crafted burgers (and beers) made with the freshest ingredients was what the founders were aiming for when they opened the first restaurant, so it's great that they haven't moved away from it.

Now coming to the next obvious question that's probably running through your minds at this moment: The buns are baked fresh, sure, but is the dough also made from scratch? Well, no. Interestingly, the dough was actually made fresh at every Hopdoddy Burger Bar location up until the 2020 pandemic. Right after that, the chain switched to getting it from an off-site bakery. We won't get into too many details about why this switch happened, but the gist of it is that the pandemic wasn't the best time for Hopdoddy Burger Bar (like it wasn't for most places), and getting the dough from a supplier was a way to improve the overall business. As of today, the dough arrives pre-rolled for all the different types of buns served at this chain. But the burger you order will still be made with a freshly baked bun, that's for sure.

When a food establishment has "bakery" in its name, you'd obviously expect it to bake fresh bread. Well, Boudin Bakery surely doesn't disappoint there, as the bread is indeed baked fresh all day long.

This chain started way back in 1849 (yes, it is that old). While there probably are other places that have been around for just as long or longer, what sets this one apart is that it still uses the original starter that was made when the bakery first opened to make all its sourdough bread loaves today. No wonder this starter is called the "mother dough."

Boudin Bakery uses all the freshly baked loaves to make its signature sandwiches, soup bread bowls, and melts. Of course, since this chain is technically a bakery, it's also possible to buy the sourdough bread separately. There's just one downside to Boudin Bakery — all of its locations are in California. But if you live in this state, the chain is worth a visit. In fact, you can go to the Fisherman's Wharf location in San Francisco and also see how the bakery bakes its bread. Some people love this about the chain so much that one Reddit user wrote, "Every time I'm in San Francisco it's a must stop, still haven't made it to Alcatraz but Boudin and Ghirardelli always!" The best part? You can watch all the loaves being made from scratch through a large window while enjoying some delicious food.