The Chef Hack That Shows If You're Eating At A Good McDonald's
If you regularly eat fast food, you've likely noticed that not all fast food restaurants are of the same caliber. Even the quality of a Big Mac burger can vary from one McDonald's location to the next. With an overall 3.7 rating on Consumer Affairs, visiting the burger chain can be a bit like spinning a wheel.
However, if you're looking to gauge the overall quality of the restaurant itself, there's one little trick you can try. Chef Mike Haracz recommends visiting said restaurant during a lunch or dinner rush to get the best picture of how it operates. You should make a somewhat large order, to see how quickly the restaurant can fulfill the order, as well as ask for several customizations to see how well the restaurant pays attention to detail. For instance, you might order a dozen McDonald's burgers, with a couple of them free of sauce or pickles.
As you might expect, a higher quality McDonald's will be able to correctly fulfill your order in a matter of minutes, even during peak hours. A lower-quality restaurant, on the other hand, will take longer and/or mess up the details of your customizations.
A good McDonald's might be few and far-between
Though currently a corporate chef for Univar Solutions, chef Mike Haracz has decades of experience — including four years as a McDonald's Manager of Culinary Innovation – under his belt, making him well-equipped to judge restaurant quality. In his TikTok sharing the trick for differentiating a good McDonald's from a not-so-good McDonald's, Haracz urges viewers to try the "foolproof" test for themselves.
@chefmikeharacz I have a fool proof test to determine if your #McDonalds is a good one. #mcdonaldschallenge #mcdonaldssecrets #mcdonaldslife #QuarterPounder #QuarterPounders #quarterpounderwithcheese #quarterpounderwithbacon #QPC #mcdonaldsquarterpounder #FYP
However, many people commented that there was no need to test their local McDonald's, as they already knew the restaurants wouldn't be up to the task. One person said they couldn't even get a cup for a $1 soft drink in under five minutes, while another said their McDonald's would fail even during an otherwise slow period. Of course, it's worth noting that plenty of factors go into the quality of a restaurant, including how well the managers do their job, how well McDonald's employees are trained, and how well items are stocked for rushes. At the end of the day, though, we can't deny Haracz knows what he's talking about.