McDonald's locations are ubiquitous around the world, but some things still remain a mystery behind the scenes.
If you've ever wondered why the milkshake machine is always broken - or fancy learning how to 'hack' your way to a cheaper Big Mac - speaking to a staffer is quite eye-opening.
Emily Johnson, a current HullLive journalist and former McDonald's worker, was kind enough to answer diners' burning questions about McD's.
She shared what it's really like to work there and revealed some interesting tidbits - like what time you could get free breakfast leftovers to the one order the kitchen staff hate preparing.
Read on for Emily's insights.
Whilst I was at university, I spent a solid two years working at two different branches of McDonald's – one in Salford and one in Grimsby.
I think there are many common misconceptions about what goes on behind the scenes at the world-famous burger chain and people have come to me with questions about working there.
Whether it was grumbles about the milkshake machine never being on, or if secret disgusting ingredients are added to the burgers, the public wants to know what happens behind the drive-thru window.
McDonald's in the UK is usually split into franchises, all with different rules and goals. I have worked at two different franchises so this information is likely common to most but may not apply to all.
Below are the most common questions I have been asked as a former McDonald's employee.
Is there a secret request menu?
There isn't a secret menu per se, but two unusual requests stick out that aren't on the menu.
Every so often a customer would come in and ask for a pot of pickles on their own – usually a pregnant woman with cravings!
Depending on which employees are serving, some will give it out for free, others may charge 99p or say a flat-out no.
There is also a hack in which customers ask for a double cheeseburger dressed as a Big Mac. All the additions of lettuce and Big Mac sauce are free, you get the same amount of meat, and it is also half the price.
Why is the milkshake machine often not working?
This question has not got one answer, unfortunately. In my experience, it's been the following reasons:
- The cleaning cycle of the milkshake machine takes hours and quite often people forget to put it on it's cleaning cycle at the right time, meaning it goes on automatically in the middle of the day, oops!
- During Covid, no milkshake or McFlurry mix was delivered to stores in the UK.
- Someone accidentally put McFlurry mix into the milkshake section of the machine and vice versa – which often happens because they look the same. Everyone is too busy to stop and do the time-consuming job of sorting it out.
- Finally, the answer nobody wants to hear: it's annoying to make them. In a peak busy time when customers are queuing down the street and everyone is ordering five milkshakes and five ice creams each, it's incredibly slow and you can only make one at a time. You also have to run to the other side of the store to make them if you are working on drive-thru so it's easier to say it's not on. Managers don't encourage this behaviour, however!
What happens to all the breakfast stuff after 11am?
It goes in the bin, unfortunately, but we would try to be as accurate as possible when cooking what we thought we would need.
Hack: at Grimsby, if you turn up between 11am and 11.05am they will often offer you the leftover hash browns and McMuffins for free if there are some leftovers.
Why is service inside much slower than drive-thru?
The drive-thru is monitored by a timer that measures the length of time from when a car pulls up to the intercom to driving away with the food.
We had a leader board inside with the fastest times compared to the rest of the UK's McDonald's restaurants.
We would make this an extreme sport to try and get the number one spot. In-store don't have a leader board so people tend to care more about the drive-thru targets.
How does your local McDonald's rate? Join the conversation in our comments section
How quickly should an order be ready?
120 seconds but I wouldn't expect this. The most likely time to get this is morning but by night time everyone is too busy cleaning so they can go home on time. The wait time then can be about 10 minutes.
What's the worst order to get?
For me, it had to be a Filet-O-Fish. In Grimsby especially, nobody would ever order them so it wasn't constantly being cooked like burgers and nuggets.
You can't store food in the heating system for longer than 15 minutes so they would never be ready.
It would be a huge inconvenience to put them in the fryer from frozen, steam the bun and wait five minutes for it to cook. This would always ruin the drive-thru times and cause a massive queue as well.
Is there a 'three-second rule'?
No! From my experience, it's a lot cleaner than people think and any food dropped or touched accidentally will get thrown out.
The fry station can get pretty greasy, but it doesn't affect the fries.
Who are the best and worst customers?
Best – customers who know what they want and are quick and polite.
Worst – My personal pet hate is people that speak into the drive-thru intercom with their phones out recording themselves speaking in a silly voice or saying stupid things. I don't think people know there is a camera that we would watch you on.
Alternatively, people who will order something and then complain when they don't receive the thing they thought they were ordering in their head – the employees are not mind-readers!
Also, anyone rude, drunk, or who insults your intelligence by saying things like, "Why don't you get a real job?"
Do staff get free burgers – which ones?
Yes, we would get free food on our lunch breaks. Salford would give you four points (main, side, drink, and dessert) for free and also give you free dips galore.
Grimsby would give you points depending on how much food waste there was.
If there was a lot of food waste that week, employees would get three points (main, side, and drink) or increase it to four if there was little waste.
They were definitely more stingy and wouldn't let employees use paper straws with our drinks to save money.
Are there any weird ingredients in the food?
No, we would season burgers with standard salt and pepper and all the meat, fries, desserts, etc arrive frozen with no weird mystery ingredients to add.
The veg arrives fresh and chilled apart from the onions that we would have to hydrate.
Is it a good place to work?
Generally, I did enjoy my time there. I'm not sure if it was because I was also a student so I wasn't obligated to work Christmas and the dreaded New Year's Eve. I think the staff members really made the job enjoyable and it could be a laugh.
People have the idea that it is a really toxic place to work because of rude customers. If I'm honest, managers would always stick up for you and tell customers to go away if they were being abusive.
I don't think many people took the abuse to heart and would just laugh about it with their colleague.
The only pain was working every single weekend and waking up at 4am all the time because it does kill your social life.
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