14 Chain Restaurants That Bake Their Bread In-House
The smell of bread baking in the oven always stops us in our tracks. It could be any variety and we would still pause to savor its cozy, inviting scent. British journalist William Cobbett once quipped, "Without bread all is misery." While he was right, we would like to offer a minor correction: "Without fresh bread, all is misery." Mom-and-pop places make it a point of pride to crank out loaf after loaf for customers to see. At chain restaurants where frozen ingredients are the name of the game, that expectation for artisanal baked goods usually goes out the window — or so we thought.
Wanting an elevated take on the sub sandwich or Patty Melt isn't totally unreachable when you visit a restaurant that bakes its bread in-house. We found 14 places that utilize highly-trained bakers to scrape together hoagies, dinner rolls, or crusty breads for your bruschetta-making needs, like ciabatta with original recipes, and oftentimes hand-mixed dough. Not every enterprise has a tub of sourdough starter in the back, but you can at least expect the loaf to be toasty, warm, and billowing with steam. Take a look at the delis, burger joints, and steakhouses doing it right.
Cousins Subs
Cousins Subs is a franchise with strong regional character, so you'll primarily see Midwesterners praising this sandwich shop. The hype, of course, is well-earned. Compared to most quick-service delis, the sandwiches here are elevated by some of the freshest bread baked on the scene. Current CEO Christine Specht (the founder's daughter), refers to the puffy loaves as "the hallmark of the brand," so it's unambiguous where the chain stands on quality control.
Staff might not be mixing together the dry ingredients on site, as confirmed by the Green Bay Press Gazette, but the process still goes further than other establishments. For one, raw dough is involved. Every sandwich roll that's baked in-house today is identical to the version that Bill Specht and Jim Sheppard (the cousins behind the operation) whipped up in 1972, when the pair set up the first Milwaukee shop. Chewing into a tough roll isn't in the cards, either; employees work around the clock to fit in two batches of fresh bread seven days a week.
You can savor the plushy roll in an array of deli handhelds, including hot and cold favorites, like Meatball & Provolone or Chicken Cheddar Deluxe. In addition to the classic Italian loaf, diners can customize their creation with other varieties. Try whole wheat, garlic herb, or a cheesy Parmesan Asiago.
Cracker Barrel
Dan Evins' grand idea of a roadside eatery was inspired by the homey stops he encountered driving through the South. Though his occupation was in oil at the time, the itch was fierce enough to take out a loan for a property in Tennessee, lining the Interstate 40. Borrowing money was risky, but the investment clearly paid off. Nowadays, many of the nation's highways are lined with Cracker Barrel restaurants, where you can peruse kitschy souvenirs, eat a scratch-cooked meal, and catch the aroma of warm, buttery biscuits en route to your table.
Staff at the "country store" whip up buttermilk biscuits by hand all the time. It's common for rounds to fly off the tray, meaning they'll be steaming-hot upon arrival, but employees claim to store them in heaters should a slower shift reduce the demand. Regardless, folks can't get enough of them. "Those biscuits are delicious," raved one Yelp reviewer, revealing how they never exit the eatery without additional stock: "I even order extra to take some home with me." Slinging 210 million biscuits every year is a statistic that could ripped from the pages of Guinness Book of World Records, but Cracker Barrel makes this mind-blowing abundance routine.
Panera Bread
Once known as St. Louis Bread Company, Panera (or "bread basket" in Latin) hasn't strayed from its roots providing finely-honed artisan breads. The chain all but popularized the rustic, Euro-cafe aesthetic in the U.S. that touts a healthful yet fun alternative to takeout. On the daily, kitchens hustle to ready every store with the stock needed to build its sandwiches, paninis, and soup bread bowls. Earthy focaccia, tomato basil, and country white breads join the range of pastries and cookies that are made in house, often painstakingly, by the bakers who are hired.
Admittedly, the company's artisanal image is waning ever-so slightly. News broke last year that the "fresh dough facilities" — where Panera's raw goods are prepared off-site — were shuttering to transition over to another method, par-baking. This has caused doubtful consumers to question whether Panera actually bakes fresh bread. Now, frozen items that can be heated upon request has a few benefits, namely reducing potential waste that can occur from perishables like bread growing stale too quickly. Technically the chain would still fire up the ovens to heat up its wares.
Texas Roadhouse
Three decades in, Texas Roadhouse has amassed quite the following for its hearty chophouse staples. Massive T-Bones and immense appetizers like the Rattlesnake Bites round out the offerings, but if you're a longtime patron, then you know it's not a true meal until the dinner rolls arrive. These rolls taste delicious for a few reasons: they're plush, sturdy, and come saddled with cinnamon honey butter. More than that, they're a rarity in a world of flash-frozen convenience foods often painting "chain dining" in a bad light.
Founder Kent Taylor, in the tell-all book "Made From Scratch," recalls tirelessly laboring over the particular formula of his carb-y innovation. The recipe is mainly composed of yeast, flour, and sugar, and restaurants today continue to execute them to the same degree of perfectionism. Another perk? Diners barely have to wait for a basket: a five-minute turnaround is promised for every single batch across every restaurant.
Texas Roadhouse inspires ample opportunity to sample its bread and butter: eateries in the U.S. number nearly 700, with a few dozen locations conjuring the Americana experience abroad, including in South Korea, Qatar, and Mexico.
Fuddruckers
Bankruptcy threw Fuddruckers off course during the great recession. However, there's no denying that by baking its buns, the burger joint remains in the standing to deliver the "world's greatest hamburgers." Don't believe it at first? No doubt the smell of yeasty warmth trickling from the back will set you straight. Inside, it feels like a bakery because it is a bakery.
We're not talking about grocery store buns thawed out on a counter, either. As it turns out, staff at the restaurant dedicate time to crafting the rolls the old-fashioned way. They handle real yeast dough to churn out the buns by hand on-site. Proofing, the hardest bread baking step by a wide margin, regularly gets incorporated into the chain's baking schedule.
A lot of effort goes into ensuring every customer who walks through the door gets the best burger possible. You can count on fresh-tasting rolls each time you visit the establishment, but the chain takes pride in what goes inside them, too — eateries grill the nicest beef patties possible and finish every hamburger with produce in its prime.
Subway
Worldwide, Subway covers immense terrain — a whopping 20,484 stores. By this metric, ordering a sandwich in Akron, Ohio, or Queensland, Australia, will essentially deliver the same experience, down to the racks of bread rolls toasting to perfection. The chain hit the market in 1965, and it took nearly 20 years to actually implement on-site baking as a part of the franchise's business model. The motto isn't "Eat Fresh" for no reason!
Subway's bread is traced to three different suppliers, and is pre-mixed and frozen until sandwich-artists use their skills to craft every hoagie sold. A current team member detailed the process on Quora, and the checklist of steps from start to finish — including thawing and resting the bread after baking. That's also not counting the labor of dipping rolls into seasoning, as one employee demonstrated on YouTube while making Italian Herb & Cheese rolls.
Subway has come under scrutiny for controversial chemicals traced in its bread, but as of late, necessary adjustments have granted the sandwich empire a new lease on life. Bread-wise, you'll be happy to lean on this dependable chain.
Hopdoddy Burger Bar
Hopdoddy Burger Bar fuses its love of beer and beef into a head-scratching name (fun fact: "doddy" is Scottish slang for cow). Anyone privy to bacon jam or ahi tuna patties will find enough reason to check out this smaller-scale burger franchise, but for the purpose of this article, it's the buns that steal the show. Not just baked on the premises, which is tantalizing already — but baked from scratch. The chain's golden brioche is assembled, twice a day, from house-made dough, giving a rustic appearance absent in most store-bought buns. If you're unsure of whether Hopdoddy runs out of its bread, QSR Magazine notes locations tend to hire multiple workers for the job, which allows them to get a head start prior to the lunch rush.
Hopdoddy is about innovation, so in addition to the house bun, one-off breads crop up from time to time to complement a particular burger formula. As an example, The Doddy Melt, mimicking the build of a Patty Melt, swaps the brioche for toasted rye, while the vegetarian El Bandito hoists a black bean patty onto a nutty whole grain roll. Available year-round are gluten-free and wheat substitutes.
Jersey Mike's
Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, circa 1956: this is timeline in which Jersey Mike's hawked its inaugural creation, the "submarine sandwich," to folks strolling along the boardwalk. Today, the sub shop operates around the globe. You've probably caught the recent commercials with Danny DeVito salivating over one of its sandwiches, and while the comedy star is a great actor, his enthusiasm for the brand is generally the real deal. If you weren't aware, DeVito actually spent his youth patronizing the original storefront before it rose into a multi-national dining franchise.
Crafting "a sub above" with premium proteins (assembled by hand, by the way), naturally extends to the doughy foundation defining the sandwich — the bread. To sling a Mike's Favorite Philly or Turkey & Provolone correctly is to use a sub roll fresh out of the oven. How do the stores do it? Via one Reddit commenter, shipments of dough (a proprietary recipe) are delivered by the suppliers to individual restaurants, left at room temperature, and then rendered into the cylindrical shapes. "They come frozen and we thaw, proof and bake them in house," the person divulged.
Schlotzsky's
Next to similar fast-casual lunch stops, Schlotzsky's is a little unconventional. When the Dissmans (Don and Dora) forged their own takeout venture back in the early 1970s, the couple didn't peddle yet another Jersey-style hero. No, they took a regional delicacy, the Muffaletta, and served it with a spin. Called "The Original," it packed the traditional assortment of cold cuts and condiments, but stuffed between a crusty sourdough roll. The hand-made bread was a draw to hungry customers, and soon enough the pit-stop eventually spread, residing now in 26 states.
Schlotzsky's sourdough recipe is a company secret, culinary lead Jennifer Keil told Fast Casual, but to the taste buds, the craftsmanship couldn't be any clearer. The dough is as homemade as it gets. Batches are scraped together with flour and yeast — on-site — and before heading into the oven, employees twice-proof the loaves in order to cultivate the perfect texture and crunch.
That the franchise has mastered carbs fit for its plentiful sandwiches makes other items that came later a sensible progression. Try a pizza, a flatbread, or a gooey calzone to sample other examples of its craftsmanship.
Corner Bakery Cafe
Chicago's a sandwich town, so it's only appropriate for Corner Bakery Cafe to mark its beginning in the Windy City. It launched as — you guessed it — a corner bakery — and cemented its reputation in 1991 furnishing patrons with glutenous showstoppers. Optics are definitely at work when a store props its loaves on a display case, but leave it to the franchise to actually stick to its artisanal philosophy. When asked about her work routine, general manager Sherri Warren asserted on supplying the store's wares in the wee hours, telling the City of Calabasas, "We make everything everyday."
Corner Bakery doesn't really corner the market like it used to (dwindling profits will do that), but if you're in one of the states to have one near you — like Texas and California — do your taste buds a favor. Whether you favor sweet or savory bites, the chain carries a wide range to please either ends of the spectrum. Paninis, including Meatball, Rustic Italian, and Chicken Pomodori, are pressed between artisanal sourdough, with options for cold lunch fare spanning rustic harvest bread and classic baguettes. Bundles incorporating baked goodies — think muffins, bagels, and flaky croissants — also appear in the chain's catering packages.
Le Pain Quotidien
Don't mistake Le Pain Quotidien — French for "daily bread" — for just another dime-a-dozen "fancy" coffeehouse in metropolitan cities. Airports and shopping centers are excellent real estate for premium wares lining the case — the pastries, the paninis, the smoked salmon tartines — but expertise is baked into each quick bite. Alain Coumont, the brains behind the chain, is responsible for developing thousands of the bakery's concoctions, which embrace artisanal skills he lifted from his grandparents as a young boy. One of his proudest achievements is the sourdough, which involved numerous trials to result in the loaf served today.
If bad bread is a deal-breaker, then you'll never be disappointed when craving a coffee and croissant — the labor rises to the level of professional bakeries. Barring COVID-19's negative impact (i.e. bankruptcy), it's undeniably a fact that its commitment to oven-baking fabulous strands of dough remains unconquered. Brussels, Belgium's capital, was the jumping off point for Le Pain Quotidien. Today, foodies in Colombia, Spain, Japan, and Morocco can partake in its illustrious selection.
Logan's Roadhouse
Were you aware Logan's Steakhouse's first round of rolls was unveiled by an employee? The restaurant's website credits the recipe to a woman named Brenda, and emerged not long after the fledgling brand took off in Lexington, Kentucky. Major thanks to Brenda — without her magic, millions would be denied the pleasure of diving into what has now a can't-miss starter, made in house since day one.
When baking enthusiasts are constantly tinkering to hack the specific formula, then you know they've succeeded. "Their rolls are very resistant to being torn open," described a befuddled Reddit user who aiming to nail the recipe, adding that "they're also almost overpoweringly yeasty if that's a clue." The rolls, available in baskets of six and 12, are lightweight with a little bit of give, but feature a sturdy exterior — don't forget spreading on the creamy whipped butter paired on the side. Those who yearn for a nibble at home can even grab a tray on their way out. Making them yourself won't be nearly as immediate (the chain advises rising them for up to six hours), but once in the oven, you're counting down 20 minutes until steaming-hot deliciousness is in your hands.
Goodcents Subs
Subway and Jersey Mike's propensity for oven-fresh sandwich breads is nothing to scoff at, but in terms of yeasty goodness, GoodCents Subs might raise the bar even higher. The micro-chain — residing predominately in the Midwest, but based out of Kansas — is proud to distinguish itself from the pack by proffering steaming-hot and homemade submarine sandwich loaves. Tasting one is evident of the extensive toil Joe Bisogno invested on behalf of mastering a faultless hoagie roll. Weaving yeast and flour into bread-y gold, to say the least, has paved the way for a robust franchising operation.
There's a lot to like about GoodCents as a concept. Garnishes such as banana peppers or spicy ranch are complimentary on any sub, while the meats — also fresh — are generously piled high. Still, it's the bread visitors come back to. "It's impressive how consistent (and delicious) it has always been," one fan raved over on Facebook — likely because at Goodcents, staff members are supposed to replenish the stock up to two times a day. Essentially from open to close, fresh-tasting hoagies are just around the corner.
Planet Sub
You'll find Planet Sub (or Yello Sub, if you were an original customer), is a lot like Goodcents in key ways. Both enjoy roots in Kansas, and both prize sandwiches with an elevated sensibility. The veggies are always crisp, the cold cuts are finely-carved, and the bread — oh, the bread — is unlike any on the market. When it was a scrappy college town haunt, ordering one of its "oven baked original" subs would resemble what a modern shop hawks today: fresh, homemade, and steaming-hot out of the oven.
Customers adore the quality-first approach to Planet Sub's sandwich-making, green-lighting the cheeses and the bright, appetizing toppings. However, it's the bread that elicits surprise and awe on a regular basis. "The bread was warm, fresh and so tasty," one commenter raved. Considering it's a common experience to view the bread-bakers laboring while waiting in line, you won't be bamboozled about Planet Sub's bread. Bakers mix together all the dry components and oversee the bread-baking process from start to finish, using professional equipment. It's also dairy-free.
Most locations reside in its home state, but a couple scattered around Texas, Arizona, and Missouri provide solid ground for a mouthwatering sub.