Former McDonald’s corporate chef Mike Haracz (@chefmikeharacz) has gone viral several times for sharing little-known facts and “insider” secrets about what it was like working for the golden arches. From spilling the beans on why customers sometimes are served soggy hashbrowns instead of well-done ones to sharing his honest opinion on how great of an imitation Walmart’s “Big Mac sauce” is, Haracz has the goods.
He will also take the time to answer his followers’ questions about the chain. Recently, he shared a bit of information in a reply that might surprise some folks: McDonald’s kitchens don’t have knives in them.
Haracz, who has over 200,000 followers, begins his video by narrating a question posed by one of his viewers, “Random question: If I wanted McDonald’s to cut a burger in half for me, do they even have access to a knife to do that?”
The answer may surprise a few folks.
“The answer is no. They do not have a knife, because there is nothing in the McDonald’s restaurant that crew need to chop or cut for any reason,” Haracz says before detailing why specific ingredients have no need for knives.
“Cheese comes in cut, tomatoes come in pre-sliced, lettuce comes… shredded. I think there’s lemon wedges, if there’s like for tea for lemon, but that has a lemon wedger or a citrus wedger… contraption,” he says. “Onions are already cut, dehydrated onions are dehydrated and mashed up, so there is nothing anything they would need a knife for.”
He says that if “pouches and things of that nature” need opening, McDonald’s workers usually have access to McDonald’s-approved tools.
“But no, no knives,” he reiterates in the video, which has been viewed nearly 50,000 times.
@chefmikeharacz Replying to @that1guyinthecomments Former #McDonalds corporate chef talks about knives in the kitchen. #mcdonaldssecrets #McDonaldsSecret #mcdonaldsworker #mcdonaldslife #McDonaldsTikTok #FastFood #FastFoodSecrets #FastFoodSecret #FastFoodTikTok #McDonaldsmenu ♬ original sound – Chef Mike Haracz
If you think about vital tools that every kitchen should have, especially one that serves up hot slabs of meat, like burger patties and various chicken delicacies, knives would probably be on that list.
But when it comes to the world of fast food, kitchens operate a bit differently. Thanks to certain corporate standardized practices, the process of making customers’ meals relies more on an assembly line approach.
McDonald’s is largely attributed for popularizing the assembly-line approach to serving food up to diners, thanks to its “Speedee System.” This system means that its employees don’t need traditional tools in order to prepare customers’ food, as the majority of products come pre-packaged, pre-cut, and pre-portioned.
So what does all of this mean for a person who wants their burger cut in half? Well one TikToker, who said they successfully received their burger cut in half, recalled workers having to get creative with the tools. “They will use the spatula. They have done it for me,” that customer revealed.
However, this practice seems inconsistent across locations. “I was told we can’t cut anything in half because that changes the serving size, and we don’t sell smaller servings so it would be misleading & 1/2,” one TikToker, who implied they are a McDonald’s worker, said.
It also seems like modern corporate standards aren’t adhered to in every McDonald’s restaurant. “My owner operator stocks basic kitchen essentials. He says ours operates more like it did in the 60’s, and our stuff tastes way better,” TikToker @newone2013 wrote.
The Daily Dot has reached out to McDonald’s and Haracz via email for further comment.