Seven incredible facts about fast-food restaurants – you didn’t know this yet
People who work behind the counter at McDonald’s or in the Burger King kitchen know things that ordinary mortals will never find out. Luckily, they were brave enough to share their knowledge online. Did you already know this about your favorite snack joint?
Why there are little bumps on the lid of your soft drink
There are strange little bumps on the lid of your cup of soda . What are they doing there? When your drink is poured, one of the bumps is pressed down so the people behind the counter know which cup contains Coke and which contains Diet Coke. That way, they don’t have to open the lids and take a sip from every cup to figure out which is which, and you don’t have to bicker with your drive-thru buddy. Pure win!
Why the busiest time is the best time to eat a hamburger
It’s annoying to have to wait in line, but the busiest time at the counter is also the best time to eat fast food. That means the food is rotating quickly, so you can be sure your burger has just come off the grill and hasn’t been waiting under a heat lamp for the next customer for ten minutes. Mystery guests are also usually deployed during peak hours, providing an extra quality check.
Why you order more at the kiosk
Well, not automatically, but research has shown that people order more at a self-service kiosk than at the counter. How come? Apparently, we still find it embarrassing to order two hamburgers when we’re only eating by ourselves. Plus, you’re under less pressure at those ordering screens: there’s no employee waiting for you with their fingers hovering over the cash register buttons. More time to choose means choosing more food, apparently. Third reason: just before you pay, you’re shown some matching menu options—irresistible!
Why a milkshake is truly the very worst
Big, greasy burgers, enormous cups of cola… the fact that fast food really isn’t healthy probably won’t surprise you. But do you know what’s the unhealthiest of all? The milkshakes. They contain twice as much sugar as you should normally eat in a day and are packed with saturated animal fats. So the next time you tell yourself it’s basically just fruit and cold milk: absolutely not.
Why the lid of a McFlurry has such a strange shape
Do you know why a McFlurry has such a weird lid? To prevent hedgehogs from getting their heads stuck in it. Unfortunately, most people would rather toss their McFlurry cup next to the trash can than in it. At night, hedgehogs come rummaging around the bins, and the leftover ice cream at the bottom of one of those cups is irresistible to them. When hedgehogs were found with McFlurry lids around their necks, McDonald’s decided to adjust the design. Nicely handled—but please just throw your rubbish in the bin.
Why there’s such a weird little spoon in your McFlurry
A Sundae comes with an ordinary plastic spoon, but sticking out of your McFlurry is a strange hollow thing. You can scoop the ice cream into your mouth with it just fine, so we never gave it any further thought until we read why the spoon has such an odd shape. The soft serve goes into the cup, the filling is added, and then the spoon goes in—it fits perfectly into a kind of mixer that spins everything together. Aha!
The plastic spoons at McDonald’s have recently become a thing of the past: the supersnacker has switched to wooden spoons for the ice cream. Better for the environment, says the chain. But not all customers agree: in nearly nine thousand posts, Facebook recently erupted over the change. They say the wooden spoon makes the entire ice cream taste like wood.
Why you’re better off not being the first customer in a coffee shop in the morning
Let’s wrap up with a coffee tip: every evening, the coffee machines at Starbucks and its friends are thoroughly cleaned. If you’re the first person in the morning to come in for a cup of comfort—or a latte the size of a pillowcase, we don’t judge—there’s a small chance that some cleaning solution could still end up in your coffee. Let the other people go first.
Read also:
- You’ll want to try this: a pink McFlurry
- Fast food, corona-style: say goodbye to… pretty much everything
- 10 things you can order at McDonald’s—but not here
