Chains, by definition, are supplied by the lowest common denominator

Infact they created their own even lower denominator because greed

Not exactly. Many franchises require that you purchase food through them and some of them will put time in ensuring quality.

And where do you think the ingredients for those items come from?

It depends on the restaurant chain. The problem is that the question is if the food is local which is a harder claim to verify than if the restaurant distributes its own food.

For instance, I know that McDonald’s owns its own supply chain and is really good at managing it. However, because the company serves so much food, it likely gets its food from the same locations as major supermarket chains, just with its own verification for food quality. So, the food is controlled, but it likely isn’t local.

That’s something that’s usually advertised by the establishment. I know that e.g. in St Louis both Rooster and Mike’s Local Eats source their ingredients from local as much as possible

Swiss Chalet in Rochester and Buffalo used to source it’s potatoes locally, before they closed anyway. Kraft for everything else not supplied by the chain.

me and my 30 year old information

Five Guys usually names where the potatoes are from, but oddly don’t mention the source of the beef, veggies, etc.

In-N-Out can only place restaurants in certain locations due to internal supply chain limitations. I haven’t confirmed it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if their food was sourced locally because of it.

My brother is a chef at a kosher restaurant and tells me that they have to use specific suppliers. I don’t know if those suppliers are ‘local’ but they’re definitely segregated from suppliers like Sysco.

My point is there are niche restaurants, like a kosher restaurant, that may source things more locally for reasons.