The future of the chain restaurant is... chicken? I learned so much from this conversation with food systems (and chain restaurant) expert Austin Frerick — from how Sysco maintains its restaurant supremacy (and what Sysco "tastes" like) to which chain restaurants have significantly changed in quality (Wendy's) and are on the verge of extinction (also Wendy's). Did you know what makes a chain restaurant resistant to suckage? The answer will and will not surprise you! This was such a fun, enlightening conversation — the sort that you'll think about every time you eat in or drive past a chain restaurant — and does exactly what we always hope for a Culture Study episode: it'll make you think a lot more about the (very everyday, very unassuming) world around you. Enjoy! GREAT NEWS: WE HAVE VERY GOOD EPISODE TRANSCRIPTS NOW! They come out within 24 hours of the pod — just come back and click here. We pay an actual human for help with these, so thank you for either being a paid subscriber or listening to the ads that make this model possible!If you're a paid subscriber and haven't yet set up your subscriber RSS feed in your podcast player, here's the EXTREMELY easy how-to .And if you're having any other issues with your Patreon subscription — please get in touch! Email me at annehelenpetersen @ gmail OR submit a request to Patreon Support. Thanks to the sponsors of today's episode!Use code CULTURE at jonesroadbeauty.com to get a Free Shimmer Face Oil with your first purchase!Go to  https://zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY and use CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.Get an additional 20% off better plants and better growing at FastGrowingTrees.com using the code CULTURE at checkout.Get 15% off your first order of cleaning products by going to Blueland.com/CULTUREShow Notes:Learn more about Austin Frerick's work here: https://www.austinfrerick.com/Buy Barons (and get links to a whole bunch of excerpts) here: https://www.austinfrerick.com/baronsThe episode of Odd Lots with Austin as the guest (it's so good) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mega-corporations-that-control-what-americans-eat/id1056200096?i=1000650703441The Top 250 US Chain Restaurants (as of 2025): https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/top-500-2025-rankingThis is a very fawning look at the history of Simplot (which we mention briefly) but you'll get the larger Baron moves: https://www.readtrung.com/p/jr-simplot-became-a-billionaire-sellingA history of frozen food in America: Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in AmericaRevisit our episode from last year on how private equity ruins everythingWe're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:WHITE LADY HAIR! Cultural critic Sarah Mesle will be joining us to talk about her new book Tangled: Seven Iconic Moments in White Women's Hair and What They Tell Us About Power, Pleasure, and Complicity. If there's a white lady whose hair interests you, I guarantee you it interests Sarah, too. We can talk about specific celebrity/actress haircuts but also specific styles/trends. I cannot wait for this one. EMILY BLUNT! (and secondary characters becoming primary ones!) with Xochitl Gonzalez — obvi we're gonna talk a lot about Devil Wears Prada and 2000s-era striving but you can take this in so many directions BOOMER MOMS! Tracy Clark-Flory and I need your questions about why boomer moms (very broad designation here, I realize) are the way they are — we're specifically going to talk about the constrictions of growing up in '60s/'70s U.S., particularly around femininity, race, education, body image, employment, and motherhood. This one's gonna be really good, I know it. INTERGENERATIONAL FRIENDSHIP with Andrew Sean Greer, author of Less (and Villa Coco, a new book with an intergenerational friendship at its center). You can ask questions about how to find intergenerational friends, how to sustain those friendships, what people seem to love so much about them, wherever your heart takes you. HOW TO FALL IN LOVE WITH A CITY with Lilah Raptopoulos, editor of the Financial Times city life vertical. We're going to talk about how to fall in love with cities WHILE VISITING (for fun, for vacation, for work) and how to fall in love with the city where you currently live. What tips do you want? What city are you struggling to fall in love with? Anything you need advice for/want musings about for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment.As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) hereFor this week’s discussion: We want to hear all your contemporary fast food observations — what's thriving, what's struggling, and what are your (additional) theories about why?