Where do chain restaurants get their “antique” decor?
I’ve noticed that a lot of chain restaurants like to decorate with “historic items” such as old sporting equipment, black-and-white photos, farm tools, maps, old books, and other retro/nostalgic type decor. Are there stores that sell this stuff? Are these items real or are they mass manufactured?


Their are decorators, designers, as well as specific bar and restaurant contractors, that inventory such items. They are frugal shoppers that hunt for this stuff. Some bigger pieces are newly constructed and distressed. They don’t need to be the bigger pieces, just the mandatory ungettable items.
Any item you listed is available in flea markets, etc. There are also “reproduction” companies that mass produce them. If you are really curious, ask the specific restaurant.
most of it is from flea markets, some of it could be mass produced for the franchise so they have a few items to make each location “cohesive”
I personally **** it, so glad Fridays dropped the flair in their uniforms and the “grandma’s attic” decor
it looks like a bunch of junk
The items in Cracker Barrels are quite real and are found at flea markets and yard sales by two women who have the full time job of shopping for such things. I know that the stuff is real because I have found items in distant Cracker Barrels that are old advertising premiums from businesses near here including an old thermometer from the funeral home that I used to work for.
The company that owns the chain hires buyers who go to antique stores, flea markets, junk stores, etc., although nowadays they might be able to do all the buying online. I know this because a buyer bought some vintage suitcases from my grandmother’s antique shop once.