Someone complained that McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish is shrinking in size and is virtually down to the size of a slider. A former McDonald’s corporate chef stepped in to investigate the claim. What he found is surprising.
In a recent TikTok, Mike Haracz (@chefmikeharacz), who is the former McDonald’s corporate chef and has many videos about the burger chain, shared that he was tagged multiple times in a video of a person showing a significantly smaller Filet-O-Fish. He wasn’t sure what was going on with the sandwich size and decided to pull up to a nearby McDonald’s on Nov. 6 to investigate.
For just the sandwich, he paid $5.42, which seemed like a low value to him, considering he remembers getting a more filling 6-inch Subway sandwich with more produce for about the same price. “It seems like a bit expensive,” Haracz said.
When he opened the sandwich box, Haracz could immediately tell the Filet-O-Fish was bigger than the one from the video, “but it is still certainly tiny.”
@chefmikeharacz Former #McDonalds corporate chef checks the size of the Filet-O-Fish. #mcdonaldssecrets #mcdonaldssecret #mcdonaldslife #McDonaldsTikTok #McDonaldsMenu #FastFood #fastfoodsecrets #FastFoodMenu #filetofish #filetofishsandwich #filetofishchallenge #Filletofish #mcdonaldsfishfillet #mcdonaldsfishfilet #mcdonaldsfiletofish #FYP
♬ original sound – Chef Mike Haracz
“I don’t think it’s as small as that one video leads. It looked like somebody maybe fabricated it, cut down the Filet-O-Fish, got a different kind of bun, or that person’s hand is gigantic,” Haracz said. However, he noted that the filet looked thinner (not surprising given recent trends of food items shrinking in size).
The video has nearly 100,000 views and over 400 comments.
“It honestly seems the same to me. Price has definitely gotten ridiculous tho,” a top comment read.
“mine was much smaller than yours. period,” a commenter wrote.
“The fish sandwich in my neighborhood McD’s is way smaller than what u got. Maybe only in certain areas? I’m in San Fernando Valley btw,” a person shared.
The Daily Dot has covered several videos by Haracz, ranging from his McDonald’s dupes to insider explanations about the products and how the stores are run. In one video, the chef shared that McDonald’s iconic and secretive Big Mac sauce has a cheap dupe available at none other than Walmart. Since you can’t buy Big Mac sauce in bulk, the chef suggests what he considers the next best thing: Great Value’s Secret Sauce. He pointed out that this sauce is a bit sweeter than McDonald’s but does a good job at matching the overall flavor.
In another video he responded to viewers who said their Quarter-Pounders were coming out raw or undercooked. He gave two reasons why this may be happening. Either the burgers aren’t being cooked properly, or the meat is fully cooked but looks pink due to the gas used to preserve the meat.
The Daily Dot reached out to Haracz and McDonald’s for comment via email.