McDonald’s staffer shares ‘secrets’ from the kitchen

A McDonald’s employee is sharing secrets from the kitchen of the fast food chain in a series of TikTok videos.

TikTok user Austin, who goes by @austin.martinn, has uploaded several videos from his job since last year, revealing how some of McDonald’s customers’ favorite dishes come together.

The teen has filmed himself assembling chicken sandwiches, cooking the eggs for Egg McMuffins, and even prepping dehydrated onions behind the scenes at one of the chain’s Canadian locations.

Austin appears to do what he can to make his shifts fun, even if that means sharing company secrets on the internet.

In one video from last November, he shows himself assembling ten Junior Chicken sandwiches, lining up all the buns to add the lettuce and mayo.

In another, he assembles dozens of cheeseburgers for a particularly large order.

But it’s his video of Egg McMuffin prep that has most captivated TikTok users, racking up 1.2 million views so far.

In the clip, Austin shows how McDonald’s gets the eggs in an Egg McMuffin perfectly round to fit so neatly on an English Muffin — and it’s not by using some pre-made egg substitute.

Austin has a custom grill divided into 12 sections, each with a circular barrier for holding the egg in place. He picks up real eggs from a carton, cracking them directly into each egg section on the grill.

As they cook, he uses a tool to whack each egg, breaking the yolk so it mixes in a bit with the whites.

He then closes the top of the grill, sealing the eggs in, and pours water into a crevice on top to steam the eggs inside.

Finally, he opens the grill to reveal perfectly circular, perfectly fluffy eggs inside.  

In yet another video, Austin reveals that the onions found on top of burgers don’t exactly come fresh from the farmer’s market.

Rather, they come dehydrated in a large 12 oz. packet, which get emptied out into cups.

Water is then added, allowing the onions — 386 servings to a bag — to rehydrate and expand. The bag warns that the onions must sit in water for a full hour to be properly rehydrated and not chewy, and warm water is to be avoided because it activates enzymes and turns the onions pink.

Most shocking, though, is a video that the teen shared showing bugs crawling around the kitchen. In a recent clip, he zoomed in on several spiders, with one inside a plastic bag and another crawling around the garbage.

Other bugs could be seen inside empty plastic bags. 

Though his videos have certainly captured attention, the wisdom of spilling company secrets on social media is questionable — and has resulted in employees of other fast food chains losing their jobs in the past.

On July 22, TikTok user @anasteeezy uploaded a video announcing that she would share secret menu items and tricks for ‘how to get things cheaper’ from Chick-fil-A, based on her knowledge as an employee of the chain — and kicked things off with a way to save on Mango Passion Tea.

The video quickly went viral, and has earned 2.5 million views to date — but just five days later, the 19-year-old updated followers to say that her viral fame had come at a price, and she lost her job at the restaurant chain.  

‘I work at Chick-fil-A so I’m here to give you all the tips and tricks on secret menus items, how to get things cheaper and just all that,’ she began. ‘And this is only a part one.’

In the first video, she revealed a clever way to get more bang for your buck when ordering Chick-fil-A’s seasonal Mango Passion Tea.

‘Basically, the large — it’s not really a large. So what you’re gonna order, you’re gonna order an Arnold Palmer, which is a tea and lemonade mixture, and you’re gonna ask for four pumps of mango.

‘By doing that you literally get double the Mango Passion Tea for literally the same price,’ she said.

On July 27, she uploaded part two of her Chick-fil-A series — which came with a surprise twist.

‘Y’all asked, so I’mma deliver. Part two: frosted beverages,’ she said.  

The camera then cut to her in a different outfit, and she interjected: ‘Psych, guys, I thought — I’m actually on my way to get fired now.’

In yet another video, she mimed out what happened as she interpreted it: She called herself a ‘great employee’ who said ‘my pleasure’ with a smile and thought it would be fun to share the TikTok video.

But soon, she was getting messages from other Chick-fil-A operators about getting her fired, and eventually her boss called to tell her to return her uniform. 

Based on the video, @anasteeezy seems confused as to why sharing tricks that would lose the chain money would cost her her job.