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Many of us like to go for a cheeky meal at a fast food restaurant every now and then. It’s quick. It’s cheap—or it used to be anyway. Few of us probably have any illusions about the nutrition we’re (not) getting. But it’s not unfair to demand a certain level of quality on the plate and in the kitchen.
Recently, internet user u/n0tter sparked an interesting discussion on r/AskReddit. In the viral thread, real-life fast food workers spilled the beans about which menu items everyone should avoid ordering. Scroll down to read about their experiences and opinions. Just… make sure you’re not snacking while you read.
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#1
Worked CircleK for 3 years - coffee is surprisingly good and machines were well maintained, but the cappuccino/iced coffee machine was disgusting and impossible to clean despite best efforts (lots of tiny parts where powdered drink mix could sit and rot). My location was next to a university and we had a regular who was an engineering professor, once he came in and watched while I was trying to clean the cappuccino machine, and said he should use it in class as an example of poor design.
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#2
The ice machine. They don’t get cleaned as often as you’d hope.
Jeremy James 5 months ago
They are supposed to be serviced regularly, but seldom are. At the last place I worked, I removed the front panel and it was choked with mold. Inside, there was a service log. It had been 3 years. By the time I finished cleaning and flushing it, my throat was sore. I've worked in many places where people just don't know and don't care.
#3
Kids packs at movie theaters are a waste of money and the employee will hate you for making them put it together. Just get a regular popcorn, candy, and soda for your kids to share.
My second tip is: sneak food into movie theaters and don’t buy anything.
Pickle (any pronouns) 5 months ago
I had no idea that you couldn't bring your own food into movie theatres. Maybe it's a regional issue, but my family and I have had no problem bringing food from home or other stores into theatres.
No matter what business in the food industry you own—whether a food truck, fast food joint, a family-friendly chain, or an upscale restaurant—the same basics apply. For starters, you want to make sure that your hygiene standards are high and consistently maintained.
The last thing you want is for your customers to fall ill because someone didn’t wash their hands, stored and labeled the ingredients improperly, or ignored other cleanliness protocols. It’s awful to do that to your customers, and it can ruin their health or even cost them their lives. It’s incredibly bad for business and reputation. And it might cost someone their job, too. Your customers deserve better than to eat bad food at a high price.
#4
Any “sandwich” from Starbucks. No, we don’t make anything in house. It’s shipped out to us frozen and we just reheat it in the oven for you $$$.
Jeremy James 5 months ago
My crew used to live on the mark-out (expired) sandwiches. Because they didn't pay us enough to afford groceries.
#5
My brother worked at Subway in the early 00s. He told me to never eat the tuna and to not ask him why. I'd never had one to that point, and still have not.
#6
If you go to a McDonald's that has a shake machine that is always working, don't get a shake there. If you go to one that is always "broken," it's perfectly safe to get a shake there. The reason the machine is down so often is because it has a really long cleaning cycle that needs to be done frequently.
Sharkie 5 months ago
I worked at McDonald's in 2006. We were open 24/7, very busy place and at that time they did try to clean everything. Well... I know they cleaned the french fry machine and changed the oil, which was quite uncommon in other restaurants. But I don't remember cleaning the milkshake machine, coffee machine and soda fountain ever. I don't think anybody knew how to do that and they were used almost non-stop. I think they got some maintenance only when they broke. I hope they made some changes since.
Pathogens—from bacteria and viruses to fungi—can make us sick. They thrive on some food items more than others. For example, they quickly multiply in raw chicken, seafood, raw eggs, unpasteurized milk, and raw flour, among others. These need to be stored and labeled properly and precisely -- otherwise, you’re risking someone’s health. On the other hand, when working with ingredients like crackers, lemons, or pickles, you have far more flexibility because they spoil slower.
Proper restaurants have their own checklists when it comes to keeping the kitchen and front-of-house clean. It’s really important to follow those protocols to the letter because they set out what needs to be cleaned daily, weekly, and monthly. For instance, you should aim to clean the sinks, food preparation areas, storage areas, and walk-in fridges and mop the floors every day. On top of that, your daily tasks will probably include taking out the trash and cleaning the appliances.
#7
If you have peanut allergies, don't get drinks from Sonic. They do not care about cross contamination AT ALL.
JayWantsACat 5 months ago
If you had any sort of serious allergy why would trust any third party with mitigating cross contamination of food? You seriously expect some 16 year old to adhere to strict food safety standards at some fast food joint?
#8
I worked at Jimmy John’s for almost 7 years and they are obsessive about keeping things clean, to the point they go through a 8ish page packet of cleaning lists each day and all food items are super fresh and labeled to be used within 24-72 hours. The only thing I would not eat from there is the bacon because it comes cold and it’s just kind of unpleasant lol.
#9
I worked at Chuck E Cheese years ago and while the pizza was good & safe (its pretty tough to screw up pizza) but the salad bar would be a pass.
Adults and kids would just toss the tongs and spoons all over the salad bar, letting the handles fall into the food, getting all the different vegetables and dressings mixed together. All this at one of the grossest places on earth where they are putting their hands all over video games, the ball pit, pizza, and around again.
At the end of the night then we would flip all of the salad bar vegetables over into fresh containers and top them off for the next day. They did get thrown out every few days. If employees ever made ourselves a salad we would make it from the ingredients in the fridge that were not yet out on the Bacteria Bar.
Brittania Kelli 5 months ago (edited)
I got in super trouble from my Oncologist when my friends took a 20 year old me to Chuck E to distract me from having started chemo. He was shouting, 'do you know what kids do in ball pits? The germs, the bacteria!' Never been in a ball pit since.
Thoroughly cleaning the entire restaurant might consume a lot of time, but without these standards, there won’t be any customers, no business, and no jobs. That being said, managers really need to make sure that their employees are motivated to keep the place clean. They ought to find ways to incentivize them and show that their actions really do matter.
Have you ever worked at a fast food chain before, dear Pandas? If so, what was your experience like? What menu items did you think it was best to avoid? On the flip side, what food items did you genuinely think were pretty good? Tell us all about it in the comments.
#10
Anything from Tim Hortons. Workers get in trouble for throwing out expired product. Workers are encouraged to lie when doing temperature checks. Workers are advised to do a 'sniff test' on expired product. Workers are discouraged from investigating where mould is coming from and told to just clean up the visual.
ETA: I realize this is not the case everywhere, and I'm glad. For me however, this was the case at several locations, throughout 2 different cities.
ENSJ 5 months ago
Damn, where I work we have to throw out and get new batch of food when the temperature is not right. (Threshold is 73°C straight out of the oven and 63°C when it's been in the bain marie for a while, anything lower than that has to be tossed). Depending on the person working the ovens and their skill in estimating how much is needed, we have a lot of waste during the day;
#11
I worked at chipotle in 2019. At that time, everything was fresh and I always trusted it (right after opening, the meat is usually left over from the night before but it was still good and I personally didn’t think that was a bad policy as it reduced food waste). We would clean the restaurant top to bottom corner to corner every single night.
Post Covid, I wouldn’t eat anything from there. Nothing is ever clean anymore and I know from others who still work there that their standards have significantly declined. Absolutely disgusting for increased prices, decreased quality, and smaller portions.
LokisLilButterknife 5 months ago
I honestly don’t understand Chipotle’s and Taco Bell’s appeal in the U.S., especially when you have so much amazing, authentic Mexican food.
#12
I don't work in fast food but I have a buddy who fixes and services fountain soda machines. Never ever drink fountain soda. The hoses that the syrup runs through are never cleaned and rarely changed. He says they are stained and/or have mold. My buddy says the insides of fountain soda machines are usually disgusting.
#13
At little caesars, normal crust is made in store. Make our own dough and everything. But if you order a thin crust, you get a premade crust that may have been sitting in an open cardboard box for days to weeks.
Eroe Infinito 5 months ago
Most people hate Little Caesars and call it "cardboard' pizza. But I personally love it. It's definitely in my top 5 for sure.
#14
Stop ordering lemons in your water at s****y restaurants. I worked at one nice restaurant where this wasn’t the case… but I can’t recommend it at your average places.
The lemons that we cut come in large boxes with probably something like 100 lemons in it. Probably every other box had moldy lemons and entire corners of the boxes covered in mold. When cutting lemons we were told to just not use any ends with the molds directly on them.
There a good chance you’re putting lemons in your water that were in direct contact with mold or were partly covered in mold.
>! Of the places I worked, the biggest offender was BY FAR ihop !
#15
Sbux barista here, do not get any iced oleato drinks. It just doesn't work and olive oil in coffee was already a big stretch. The hot latte is actually not too bad and tastes a little bit like Cheerios but the oil almost instantly separates from the rest of the drink when it's iced, which is no bueno.
#16
A buddy repaired commercial appliances, he had a special hatred of Jack in the Box for any grilled chicken option.
They microwave them to order and he said their cleaning standards are the most disgusting of and fast food chain. That wasn't based on one location either but dozens in the area.
#17
They don't have them anymore but when I worked at Arbys the Arby-Q was the one thing I would never eat. that sauce would sometimes be 2 months old I'm not kidding. Whenever I handed an order to a customer who ordered one I would say "here you go!" not "enjoy your food!".
Colleen Glim 5 months ago
If we’re talking bbq sauce, it has a fairly long shelf life. The same bottle for three months, no worries. The same bottle for six months, might be an issue
#18
I used to work at a Papa John's, and it's not a health reason to avoid things, but generally: avoid going overboard on toppings.
There's a chart for how much of each topping gets used based on how many toppings are on the pizza, and it gets smaller as the number of toppings go up. Once you hit 3 toppings, you're basically paying $1 more to get half of each topping just to get the extra topping. IIRC a triple pepperoni pizza has less pepperoni on it than a double, for instance.
#19
At dunkin, I’d say everything is fine except frozen drinks made with the old island oasis machine. My store now has a vitamix blender, but the old machine was never cleaned well enough.
#20
Worked at a Bojangles. I didn’t notice much issues with the ice, but I know in general that ice machines are an issue.
Chicken. For being a fried chicken place, the fresh fried chicken, I’d avoid that. The tenders, supremes, and Cajun filet are all fine, those are frozen and just fried. But the legs, wings, breasts, thighs, those come fresh raw, and get marinated. The issue is, sometimes the store orders too much. Maybe you plan for that Friday night football game that got rained out and now you didn’t have that influx of people. Or, you didn’t plan enough for Sunday, because it’s the summer and families are spending their time at the beach, but it rained and their plans got rained out and they all came to Bojangles for a tailgate special. So you ran out, panicked, over-ordered the next week and it’s sitting in the cooler.
I’ve seen green chicken. We’ve fried up green chicken. We’ve feared getting written up if we refused to serve it and if we did something that would cause it to get thrown out. The above issues, those happen. You order enough to prepare, but you can’t prepare for every issue. That’s why you’re allowed to waste food. Throw it away, it went bad. Heck, you might even be able to argue that it went bad from the vendor and you didn’t realize it until you opened the box. But instead everybody is afraid of losing their job, from the crew member to the manager, that it’s easier to just cook and serve it (and maybe serve it at a discount as a manager’s special).
Jeremy James 5 months ago
This is what happens when you tie a manager's bonus to their operations budget. Or when you're run by a franchisee who doesn't care about anything but passive income.
#21
I worked at Steak 'n' Shake and Burger King 10 years ago. Everything was on the level over there.
My brother, however, around that same time, worked at Arby's and told me that other workers would regularly drop roast beef on the ground, pick it up, and still put it on the sandwich to serve.
Given that that's their signature item, I say just avoid the entire restaurant lol.
#22
Taco bell worker here, I would not go here if u are strictly vegetarian/vegan- there are plenty of non meat options but the cross contamination is everywhere.
Eroe Infinito 5 months ago (edited)
I worked at Taco Bell a little over a year and I have nothing negative to say about it. I personally mopped the floors and cleaned all the containers everyday. I still eat there all the time. It 100% depends on the manager and the location.
#23
I used to work at a froyo shop. If you see a topping and think “I’ve never thought of that being a topping for froyo,” you probably aren’t alone. Things like fruity pebbles were just put back out every morning getting older and older because no one ate them.
Jeremy James 5 months ago
Why wouldn't you put Fruity Pebbles (and raspberries and blackberries) on your frozen yogurt? That can't be too uncommon, right? It's the first thing I would think of.
#24
Don’t get iced tea from Taco Bell. The inside of the canister at my Taco Bell would always have a thick, tissue-y brown film all around it. My Taco Bell was actually cleaner than your average Taco Bell, but it was really easy to get away with not cleaning that thing, or otherwise just forget to.
devotedtodreams 5 months ago
Seems to me that every time Taco Bell comes up, I interpret it as: "Don't eat at Taco Bell." (Luckily, we don't have those where I live.)
#25
Worked at Krispy Kreme for 2 years.
Just so you know, the doughnuts are absolutely fresh- brought in twice a day.
Don't order any of the Coffee Bean drinks, though- they never *ever* change the ice chest.
Edit: Doughnuts are most fresh at 6 am and 3 pm; least fresh at 2pm & 10pm.
#26
Chick fil a worker - I would honestly say the food is pretty safe, it’s all made back there minus the soups.
However the drinks on the other hand, it’s financially smarter to just go to the gas station and get yourself a fountain drink than pay $2 for a large coke that is half the size of a large at McDonald’s.
LokisLilButterknife 5 months ago
They also really hate LGBTQIA+ people- yes its’s true and there are numerous articles on it.
Void Cat 5 months ago
"In 2021, Chick-fil-A chief executive, Dan Cathy, reportedly donated a huge amount of his $8 billion (£6.4 billion) net worth to groups such as the National Christian Charitable Foundation, which funds organisations designated as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Centre, as well as bankrolling legal cases aimed at stripping queer people of their rights." - Pink news
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ConstantlyJon 5 months ago
The drink thing kinda goes for any restaurant at this point. But even a 12 pack of soda costs like $10 minimum now, so that's just inflation for you. Can confirm that food at Chick-Fil-A is incredibly safe. I know everyone hates them for their bigotry, but the food is the highest quality in the business.
Colleen Glim 5 months ago
Can’t get past the owners opinions. Sorry. I’ll make a chicken burger at home. May not be as good, but at least I’m not judging anybody
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Darth Kittius 5 months ago
I also work there and can confirm. Everything is really clean, but the soda prices are kinda stupid. Just get lemonade instead
Jason 5 months ago
That's another stop, more time, and maybe more gas. I rarely drink soda anyway so meh
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 5 months ago
I have soda and water in the fridge. I'm terrified of ice machines now.
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Beth Wheeler 5 months ago
The only thing I will eat there is the mini's they have for breakfast. Everything else is nasty. Ask for a sandwich with only mayo and they don't even put it on there, they give you packs of mayo and it still had the disgusting dill pickles on it. It went in the trash along with my money because you can't get rid of the taste of pickles.
#27
Worked at a chain coffee shop with a type of Reindeer as its mascot.
Bakery items are designed to be dry in order to get you to buy coffee and the coolers are overly sugary.
However, the coffee is legit. If there is anything else on the drip menu besides regular Caribou Blend, get that one instead as it has less acid and is better roasted than most other coffee shops.
Also the mochas use regular Caribou Blend Coffee as the espresso. It’s not a trade secret, but the acidity is what blends the chocolate to create that unique mocha taste.
#28
Mushrooms on pizza. They often times would still have the "fertilizer" attached to them. Not everyone is willing to cut that off.
#29
I'm not a fast food worker, but between 2006-2012 I worked on site doing some IT and cable management and some tasks required me to get on top of the kitchen thingy you know, the styrofoam interlining (pardon my ESL) the thing is, while i was working there between the roof and the boards, on every site, most of the time a lot of microscopical very toxic fiberglass fibers were floating and raining on top of the salads, and nobody said nothing, very toxic, indeed, and never ever they paid attention to me even after I reported the issue to the managers, everytime I was dismissed, they said "oh, we cannot stop serving salads just because you're up there" so there you go, incredible. now go and check what does fiberglass ingestion does to your body, at least it wasn't breathing it haha.
#30
KFC
burgers are bad
only get buckets from KFC, nothing else.
What do you think ?
Anouk T 5 months ago
Well that really only applies to people Living in the USA judging by the first 10 or so posts…
Bob 5 months ago
Yup, I guess mc Donald's is more expensive in Europe because there are more strict health and safety standards. How can a place have mold and still be open for business ?
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Carrie B 5 months ago
Isn't the owner a degenerate gambler with only 9 fingers?
Load More Replies... Daya Meyer 5 months ago (edited)
I am surprised that you can read in comments that some people doesn't know the difference between hygiene and taste. Someone writes how restaurant x is handling food, ignoring the easiest rules of hygiene and dispite that someone is commenting: But it tastes good! You would be surprised how many rules you can ignore and how much you can manipulate bad food so that you still survives it. Marinating old meat makes it good as fresh and noone is able to tell the difference.
Steve Hall 5 months ago
Almost everything on the list said the food is good, the drinks are bad.
Anouk T 5 months ago
Well that really only applies to people Living in the USA judging by the first 10 or so posts…
Bob 5 months ago
Yup, I guess mc Donald's is more expensive in Europe because there are more strict health and safety standards. How can a place have mold and still be open for business ?
Load More Replies... Carrie B 5 months ago
Isn't the owner a degenerate gambler with only 9 fingers?
Load More Replies... Daya Meyer 5 months ago (edited)
I am surprised that you can read in comments that some people doesn't know the difference between hygiene and taste. Someone writes how restaurant x is handling food, ignoring the easiest rules of hygiene and dispite that someone is commenting: But it tastes good! You would be surprised how many rules you can ignore and how much you can manipulate bad food so that you still survives it. Marinating old meat makes it good as fresh and noone is able to tell the difference.
Steve Hall 5 months ago
Almost everything on the list said the food is good, the drinks are bad.
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