Things Your Fast Food Worker Isn’t Telling You

Slide 1Overview
Some people may enjoy fast food, but there’s a certain mystery about how the food
is prepared that is really only known to the people preparing it. What we do know is
that the food is cooked in a very fast manner and then served for you to devour.
What happens between the time the order is placed and put in your bag is unknown
— until now.
Former fast food service workers have come forward to discuss the secrets behind
making your favorite fast food, and some of these truths are a little hard to digest.
Even if you have a solid stomach.
Every product
same taste
Fast food chains know exactly what kind of tastes people like the most, which is
why all their food has the same underlying feel to it. This way, they can satisfy their
customers' wishes straightaway.
instant
In the largest fast food chains, the most straightforward burger is prepared in just 30
seconds. The reason for this? They're simply frozen before being taken to the
kitchen.
quickly
In a fast food restaurant, you swallow a piece of food after chewing it 12 times on
average. Outside the restaurant, you generally chew things 15 times. The less we
chew food, the less satisfied we are, and so we eat more.
The Grill Marks
Are All An
Illusion
You know in those fast food commercials it shows your burger being grilled to
perfection complete with grill marks? Well, as it turns out, those grill marks that you
see on the burger aren’t made by the grill.
According to a former employee, those grill marks are etched on by a factory before
the burgers are shipped out. That allows the employees to cook the meat on an ultra
hot stove top rather than an actual grill.
Fresh Food
Depends On
The Timing
It’s all about timing! It may be a shock to hear, but your fast food might not be so
fresh after all. If you want the freshest food, one former fast-food worker says to
come in between the hours of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. or between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
These are the busiest hours that require the most food, so naturally that the food will
be freshly made. Otherwise, it’s up to chance.
The 10-Second
Rule Exists In
Fast Food Too
Remember when you were growing up and dropped a piece of food on the floor, but
that was okay, because as long as you picked it up before 10 seconds, it was still safe to
eat? Well, one former employee says that this is the rule of thumb in the kitchen at
some fast food chains, too. Mistakes happen and food gets dropped, but it’s pretty
shocking to hear that food doesn’t always go straight to the trash bin.
The color
scheme is
designed to
increase your
appetite
Red and yellow color schemes are used for a reason by fast food chains. They
combine perfectly, and at a subconscious level they make you want to stop and grab
a bite to eat. This is sometimes referred to as the "ketchup and mustard theory."
Check The Soda
Mold
If you’re worried about the cleanliness of your food or drink, you can always check for
mold yourself. One former employee gives a tip to paranoid customers and says that
they should check the drink dispenser chute by bending down and looking up. If you
see mold or anything else growing it means you might be in danger. That’s because
it’s just one of those places that employees forget to clean on a regular basis.
A standard
large cola
A simple way that greater quantities of drinks are sold is by increasing their
size/volume. People instinctively choose medium-sized drinks, but because of this,
"standard" drinks are actually large ones. Moreover, if you don't specify which size
you want, you will always be provided with the largest option.
Salads aren't
always the
healthiest
option
Many fast food chains offer salads now as a "healthy" option. But because of the
additives they often use to make them, such a meal choice can turn out to be the one
with the highest calorie content. What goes into the salad dressings, meanwhile,
remains a mystery even to employees.
Your Chicken
Healthy
Some customers may feel proud of themselves for escaping binging out on burgers
and fries by ordering the seemingly healthier option — chicken. As it turns out, that
chicken breast you thought was healthier is actually slathered in fat butter when the
grilling process is done, in order to avoid it sticking to the grill. Not only that, but the
chickens that many fast food companies use are genetically modified, and do not look
like real chickens to begin with.
The Fries Have
Ingredient
We’ve all (sadly) come to the point where we expect our fast food to have some strange
ingredients in it. Well, your fries have one extra one that wasn’t there when it arrived at
the restaurant. According to one employee, the fries have chemical residue in them
because the chemicals linger on the cooking appliances after they’re sprayed down.
Gross!
stimulate you
Some chains provide styrofoam cups rather than paper ones for their coffee. This
contains a chemical that, when mixed together in hot conditions, can have an effect
on the nervous system, causing depression and reducing concentration.
The Chili Is
Burgers
It’s become surprisingly well known that the meat in the chili from Wendy’s is really
just leftover beef from their patties, but people still keep ordering it. If a burger patty
was left out too long to be sold, it’s set aside for the chili meat.
The employees are instructed to put all the leftover patties in a vat of water,
microwave them for ten minutes, pour out the water, chop up the meat, and let it
cool.
Eggs aren't
simply eggs
The egg that sometimes features as an ingredient in breakfast meals in fast food
chains contains both real egg and a "premium egg mixture": a mixture of glycerine,
dimethylpolysiloxane (a form of silicone), and the food additive E552. Better to just
cook your own eggs at home.
The cola isn't
better
Some people find the carbonated drinks at places like McDonald's tastier than the
real thing you buy in the shops. They're actually the same, but fast food chains often
mix the concentrate and water together right on the premises before serving,
which makes them taste "fresher."
Don't eat their
food on the go
Most meals served in fast food restaurants are meant to be eaten in a very short period
after preparation. French fries, for example, stay fresh for just 5 minutes, and after
that they begin to lose their taste. By the time you've got home with your burger, it
won't taste as good.
Always Wash
their Hands
Do you know that sign that you see at fast food chains and restaurants? The one that
states employees must wash their hands before returning to work? As it turns out,
not all of them do.
According to one former employee, Most of us don’t wash our hands as much as we
should. Even though there are signs everywhere reminding us it’s the law. Glad to
know that even the employees aren’t following basic sanitary rules.
Sometimes
Food
In 2013, a student in Colchester, Essex made a rather horrific discovery in his KFC
meal. Ibrahim Langoo,19, was shocked to find what appeared to be a fried chicken
brain in the bucket.
He made the discovery after picking the chicken apart with his fingers before eating
it. KFC apologized for the incident, but the company’s corporate office thinks it was
actually a chicken kidney, not a brain. Whatever it was, it’s not the type of surprise
you want to find during dinner.
Beware Of The
.99 Cent Deal
One of the more common psychological tricks is to price items down by one cent.
Instead of seeing $10.00, reading $9.99 makes it seem like a bargain. Fast food
restaurants and cheap chains will employ this same tactic for all of their items.
The same goes for any time a fast food restaurant has a .99 cent deal going on. Those
dollar drink days from McDonald’s sound cheap but they’re still making a huge
profit.
Paying
If you want to avoid extra charges there’s a simple solution. Just don’t ask for
anything extra while cashing out. It might sound sneaky, but the employees don’t
actually care. If it’s something like extra cheese you’ll need to ask beforehand and
inevitably pay for it.
But if you want extra sauce or drink cups, then simply ask before being handed
your order. The employees will just hand it to you and won’t bother cashing you
out for 25 cents.
Extra Few
Bucks For
Bottled Beer
Remember how we talked about the moldy faucets on the pop machine? The same
going for if you’re at a fast food restaurant that serves beer. Many restaurant workers
across the board suggest choosing a bottled option instead because they rarely clean
the beer taps.
If you still want to order something available on tap, consider asking when they
cleaned the tap, and if the beer is brewed in small batches. The more they have to
change out beer taps, the more likely they’ll get cleaned.
Avoid The
Chicken Fries
At Burger King
If You Can
When the fries arrive in store, they cook the entire batch for a few minutes. Then
they move the chicken fries to an open bin, where they wait to be fried again once
someone orders them so that BK can say they are served fresh. It’s no surprise that
one of the BK’s most random items isn’t exactly cooked to perfection.
Stadium Hot
Even Worse
Version Of
Fast Food
They made it out of the package okay, and might even have been edible after we
finished grilling them – and then they went into the water. We kept three pans of
water at the back of the grill that held the hot dogs. Any hot dogs left at the end of the
day went back into the fridge, and came out again the next day…
Conclusion
Fast food is now thoroughly embedded in our society, and resisting its temptations
is something not everyone is capable of. But these surprising secrets about your
favorite fast food restaurants might make you think twice next time you're in line
or at the drive-through.