An Outback Steakhouse cook went viral on Tuesday for grilling many steaks simultaneously on a questionably clean grill, sparking a debate on dirty restaurant kitchens and labor.
The TikToker is a cook at the casual dining chain. His behind-the-scenes TikTok of the kitchen grilling around 20 steaks at the same time posted yesterday got over 53,200 views and 466 likes before it was deleted this morning.
Captioned, “Getting whooped on a Monday,” the 14-second video slowly zooms over an array of steaks being pressed on a dirty-looking grill dripping with oil. Everything from the grill top itself to the presses used to char the tops of the steaks appear gunked-up with a layer of burnt black grease.
Outback Steakhouse is an Australian-themed franchise specializing in affordable steaks in a casual environment. With locations in over 23 countries, customers can sit down to a sirloin steak for as little as $13.29.
While the cook is apparently just trying to share his everyday grind, many commenters immediately pointed out how dirty the grill appears.
“I’ve heard if you saw how the kitchen looks in restaurants you wouldn’t eat. 😳😳,” said @doingthisMOMthing365.
“Some things you just don’t show,” added @Jeffpowell385.
Another comment wrote, “This makes me never wanna eat out.”
Others came to his defense, noting that mess is inevitable when cooking that amount of food at high speed. Especially amid nationwide labor shortages brought about by low wages, inflation, supply chain woes, and COVID concerns, per Houston Public Media. According to Food & Wine magazine, three out of four restaurant workers report the hiring and retention of staff as their greatest operations challenge.
“You know what they say a dirty kitchen means good food. Not dirty as in roaches but serving 200 plus people within hours, there’s gonna be a mess,” said @presley55915.
“A lot of y’all never been in a commercial kitchen and it shows,” said @katlynpatton5.
The Daily Dot reached out to the TikToker and Outback Steakhouse for comment.
Editor’s note: Due to a technical error, our original message to this TikToker may not have been delivered.
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