It’s no secret that working in a fast food restaurant can be difficult. Employees have to deal with a fast-paced environment, customers who are often impatient and rude, management that wildly varies, and, of course, a vast array of typically frozen or packaged food that they have to make look presentable and delicious.
Employees spill secrets on the fast food menu items you should never order, the items you should definitely order, and also the items that they absolutely hate making.
The reasons vary from the food being really disgusting to deal with (yikes) to the item just being time-consuming and annoying to prepare (understandable!). Some of them are pretty surprising, while others you may have heard of before.
Check out some of the most hated fast food items out there:
Reddit user Georgey22 says not to order the Grilled Teriyaki Chicken, explaining, “Not that it’s bad regularly. But a new batch of teriyaki chicken takes almost 20 minutes to finish. Whereas orange chicken takes 5-8 minutes to finish.
Most days we depend on predicting how many customers are going to order it in the next 20 minutes, so when a huge crowd comes in that only wants teriyaki chicken, it can effectively shut us down.”
Reddist user spiderlanewales says,
Reddit user judge_judith_Shimlin said, “I work at Dunkin Donuts and the Big and Toasted is my enemy. You get double the fake egg, a normal amount of bacon pretty much on the greasiest piece of bread I have ever seen in my life.”
Reddit user 357xj96 gives another reason for not ordering them: the employees hate making them. They explained, “The mixing machines are a pain in the a** and just end up making a mess. Also during the summer when people are ordering a lot of them, the ice cream machine can’t keep up and basically just starts dispensing the ice cream mix in its liquid form.”
Reddit user betterplanwithchan, who says they were an assistant manager at Dominos, explained, “The pan pizzas were horrible to make if it was any of the specialty pizzas (deluxe was okay, mainly the extravaganzas). Adding so many toppings onto a pizza with dough with little density was disastrous, but the worst was a customer wanting a pan Extravaganza with extra of every topping. When we got the pizza out of the pan it folded in half from being unable to support such ingredient f***ery. I called the customer back and explained what happened and suggested a better option, who proceeded to tell me how I should just cook the toppings separately from the rest and then place it on (which wouldn’t work as the cheese on top is supposed to act as an emulsifier).”
Reddit user jpterodactyl explained, “Frappuccinos take longer to make than any other menu item. This is fine. the thing is, they usually get ordered in groups. This is also fine. But people come in, and they do this, and they get impatient. That’s where it gets annoying. And that it slows things down for the whole line, so people who ordered faster drinks also get impatient. The baristas are working as fast as they can. You ordered a time-consuming item. Have more patience than a 12-year-old (even though you ordered something that is probably for a 12-year-old).”
Think again after reading this. User seventhcatbounce said they hate making “anything with bacon in Burger King, pre-packed, precooked with a disconcerting green sheen even when stored correctly and in date, disgusting to separate the tiny bits from each other due to all the congealed grease. Then microwaved just long enough for the fat to melt into the burger. There was also a combo with bacon and slimey smelly mushrooms which was even worse.”
User OminousPumpkin said, “I worked at McDonald’s while I was pregnant. The only time I ever felt queasy throughout my entire pregnancy was when I smelled a McRib.” User sofiacero added, “That awful smell! I’ve [spent] half my life thinking I hated ribs because of the freakin McRib.”
User purrfectnacho said, “The reason why Chipotle employees do not like making them is because it pisses off the customer when they learn it’s $3 more just to melt cheese on the press, it holds up the line when customers order it, and it’s the worst to roll since the tortilla gets hard from the melted cheese that it often rips when we roll it and we have to make it again if the customer doesn’t want it double wrapped. To put it simple, it’s just a pain in the a** to make and yes, we do hate making them because of those reasons.”
User poem_foryour_clogs said, “Kale and broccolini mixed with dried cherries and nuts and a little maple vinaigrette. It’s the least sold item and when we actually need to get rid of them, no one is going to buy it.”
User MicahOsborn17 explained, “I work at Subway and the most hated thing to make is pretty much any sandwich that’s supposed to be toasted like steak, teriyaki, or chicken bacon ranch, and the customer doesn’t want the bread toasted. So we have to get the meat on parchment paper and warm it up in the microwave then use our hands to put the very hot meat on the sandwich. Or just a meatball on flatbread with all the veggies.”
User Talonz said, “Speaking on behalf of working at In-N-Out, animal style fries. Totally messes up your flow. Get fries, dump them in a boat, place the the fries on a plastic tray you’ve put a piece of parchment paper on, then two cold slices of cheese on top of fries, nuke them in the steamer, bring it to a grill to drop some grilled onion, ferry it back to the fry table, drown it in spread, load it in a special paper box you have to build, and then put it in its own giant bag, and give it a fork. Yeah, it was a pain.”
User genericallywhite said, “If you don’t know, it’s a secret menu item with literally every meat in the store on it. And if you don’t know, we really have the meats. Making that sandwich is a harrowing journey for any of us, one that changes you the more times you make it.”
User IronMan_2012 said, “I work at Panera. Any menu item with avocado is such a pain to make. They are incredibly messy, take a long time to cut, but most of all they are impossible to keep on some sandwiches.”
User i-ate-a-penguin said, “I used to work at Domino’s, and by far the most annoying thing to make was gluten-free pizza. One person had to step out of the makeline, thoroughly wash their hands, put on a new apron, and work around the rest of us (we had very little space) making the pizza from scratch with ingredients taken from fresh boxes untouched by our gluten-y hands. Then the pizza had to be cut with a clean cutter. That said, I don’t blame coeliacs for wanting to get their pizza fix!”
User Mordigan13 explained, “When I worked at Wendy’s in high school, I hated making the chili. Don’t get me wrong, it’s delicious, and I’ll still order it myself, but I found making it disgusting. I don’t know if this was unique to the Wendy’s I worked at, but the meat for the chili came from old burgers. The burgers that sat on the grill and no one ordered and/or burned were put into a hotel pan on the side. It was already gross that we specifically made the chili from burnt, withered beef patties, but it got worse. They sat there all day, open to close in an open hotel pan. Then at the end of the night, we dumped them all into a 5 gallon plastic bucket for the next day. The prep worker came in the next morning and had a bucket of congealed fat and burnt beef that they had to pull apart. We had to try and get as much congealed fat off the patties before adding them to the pot. You couldn’t do it without getting it all over your arms and hands, even with gloves. The process after that was just making normal chili, but getting the meat was just soooo gross.”
If you don’t want to make the employees at Coldstone’s feel pain, avoid the chocolate ice cream. User shines_likegold said, “Former Coldstone employee here. ANYTHING with chocolate ice cream, because for some reason, only that flavor would freeze into a rock. Anything else (cake batter, vanilla, etc.) would freeze to a normal ice cream consistency, and [would be easy] to scoop and mix. Working with chocolate ice cream was like breaking apart a brick.”
User ta_sneakerz said, “I work at Auntie Anne’s, and for the most part, everything is pretty easy to make. The one thing that everyone collectively hates though is the Mini Pretzel Dogs. Sure, after a while you can get good at rolling them, but when they come out of the oven and a good bit of the wieners fall out of their wraps, it’s such a pain to cup.”
In case you’re not familiar, Sonic’s Blasts are candy and cookie pieces mixed together with ice cream.
Of the Blasts, Elvis_Presley42 said, “Ex-Sonic manager here. The blast by far are the worst to make. And the more complicated you order it, the harder it is to make, and the more I hate you. Bonus points for having so many ingredients in it, the blender bursts a hole in the cup so I have to start completely over.”
Packrat1010 revealed, “At taco bell I hated making a 12-pack of soft shells. Hard shells were easy. You took 4 or 6 in one hand, threw meat in them, lettuce, cheese, wrap them up — hell, even the wrapping was easy. Soft shells come from the fridge spot, so they’re cold and you have to one by one put them onto the grill to warm for a few seconds. They were usually so small you’d burn your hand a little. Then they were floppy, so you couldn’t just do a sleeve of them at once, you had to do the meat, lettuce, cheese, wrap, repeat 12 times.” Apparently, some customers would order 24 or 36 of these at once. Yikes.
Though secret menus are fun for us, they’re not exactly fun for baristas. According to user DrMeowersPawingtonMD, “I used to work for Starbucks and HATED the ‘secret menu’ drinks. Especially since those customers had no idea what they wanted, they just saw it on Instagram or Facebook or some shit. 😒 Tried to explain to them that is not Starbucks recipes…”
In other words, if you want a secret menu item, come with the recipe.
“Almost all of the ingredients are liquids so the thing is pure soup once you blend it,” writes user hawkjor. “Had someone send it back once because it was so liquidy. When she tried to send the 2nd back, the manager intervened.”
Hawkjor concludes that this particular Blizzard is just plain impossible to make.
In_to_butt_stuff, who used to be a Steak ‘n Shake server, explained, “When I had a 7×7 (7 patties and 7 slices of cheese), I would always call it back.” This takes up a ton of space on the cook’s grill, so during a rush, it is not a fun order to complete.
I mean, 7 patties and slices of cheese sounds like it would slow even the best cook down.
“It was a blend of six cheese that was sealed between two thin crusts. It only came in the medium size,” PatrickRsGhost explained. “First, you rolled out a thin crust, place it in the pan, use the perforating tool (imprinted little holes in the crust, to keep it from bubbling up during baking), and then add a cup of the shredded six-cheese blend filling. Then you’d roll out another thin, perforate and cut a 3-inch hole in the middle, place it on top of the cheese and other thin crust, then using the sealing/trimming tool, seal the two crusts together.”
Between making thin crusts and customizing each one, the Triple Decker meant serious business.
This one’s for all the Canadians out there. (And for those who don’t know, Tim Hortons is a fast food chain that’s known for their coffee and donuts.)
“…Tim Hortons briefly test-marketed quesadillas in some Ontario cities,” said user Jeep3rs. “They were made of tortillas with microwaved veggies, chicken/steak prepared in a double boiler, chipotle powder, shredded cheese, and cream cheese. We would assemble and grill them into warm, cream cheesy/beefy/fowl messes.” Unfortunately, this item took seven minutes to make, and according to Jeep3rs, customers would frequently order six at a time at the drive-thru window.
The Reddit user concluded, “I’d rather spend a month in a room with a Canadian Goose than live that hell again.”
“Multiple onion rings back to back at Whataburger,” wrote LylatInvader. “There is only one fry spot specifically for onion rings and fish. If its one medium or large onion ring, no big deal, but then sometimes you get the next person after the onion ring order gets onion rings as well and with that your fucked.” Unlike French fries, which you can fry in bulk, the onion rings have to be fried in a specific spot so they don’t fall apart. This is especially annoying when they come in different sizes, meaning that you have to balance both small and large ones in a tiny part of the fryer.
“The onion rings all together are frustrating and they ain’t even all that great,” said the user. “Everything else from Whataburger is great and worth a trip to Texas, but for onion rings, there are better options in my hometown.” Good to know!
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