15 Wild Secrets About The Food Industry, Straight From Chefs, Servers, And Other Employees
1. “Produce retailer here. Be sure to rinse your fruits and vegetables really well because we sure don’t get paid enough to care what happens to them before and after they reach the shelves. Seriously though, it gets gross. Sometimes the fruits and vegetables are covered in unidentified water, or they’re rotting from the inside, and we just don’t know it.”
“Or maybe it just fell on the dirty floor, and we put it back on the shelf. The list goes on.”
2. “In a restaurant, whenever you ask your server to double-check with the chef, even after we’ve told you that something can’t be exchanged/swapped/changed as it’s the middle of the service, and we’re full, we might go into the kitchen — but most don’t ask the chef. Most of the time, the answer’s a flat no followed by a lot of swearing from the chef due to stress.”
3. “I work at a pizza place. The more items you get on your pizza, the fewer of each item you will get while still being charged the same price per item.”
4. “We are being timed at the drive-thru. Please be considerate of the other customers. I feel trapped in a corner when a customer does not know what they want and forces me to remake their drink several times while there is a line in the drive-thru.”
5. “In college, I worked in the restaurant business (pizza, breakfast, and then fine dining), and people don’t wash their hands nearly as often as you’d think they should. And these were all very nice restaurants — top health scores and really good management. It’s unrealistic for servers and cooks to properly wash their hands before and after touching food. You’d be washing your hands 300 times per shift.”
“Honestly, working in the restaurant industry made me just completely desensitized to germs because unwashed hands touch all over your food all the time, and no one cares, and no one gets sick. I think people underestimate how many germs get into your body per day and how well your body handles that. Unless someone who’s actually sick is touching your food, it’s really not a big deal.”
6. “I work in a salad place where the food is prepared in front of the customers. We wear gloves, but they’re just for show. In the back, people only wear gloves if they’re preparing something messy, but for a lot of the food, we just wash our hands and wear no gloves.”
7. “I’ve worked grocery, and yes, there are always products in the back. The way grocery works is every time a product gets scanned, the computer automatically orders more. The people who stock just take forever/are only allowed to stock certain aisles or products. So, whoever said that they don’t have an item is lying. They just don’t have the authority to go back there and grab something or want to.”
“I also work in a supermarket, and it’s like people think I can go out back, magically find what they want and give it to them. Our stock comes in on huge pallets that are all mixed up, so unless the product they want is right at the top of the pallet, I won’t find it unless I pull the entire pallet of stuff apart. I’ve explained this to more than one irate customer when they’ve gotten in my face asking why I can’t just find it instantly.”
8. “Drugs run rampant in the restaurant industry, and chefs are nasty. I watched someone defrost an entire turkey in the sink used for fry blanching (cutting and soaking them in water) and then continue making fries without cleaning it.”
—Anonymous
9. “I’m a server. I’m regularly grabbed, insulted, and had sexual things said to me at work. I make $3.50 an hour on the books. I rely on tips. I’ve had people ask to purchase me — yes, they were serious. I’ve been tipped with hotel key cards. I’ve been told that I was the reason the kitchen is slow. I’ve been told that I was the reason prices went up.”
“Overall, I love my job. I went to college and have a degree, yet I still choose to do this. Please, for the love of all that is good, be nice, and tip your damn server.”
10. “I’ve been a waiter for a long time, and the general public has no idea how many times I’ve seen my coworkers come in drunk as hell, but they still make it through a shift and have no one notice.”
“There’s also at least a 60% chance that your bartender has snorted cocaine in the last eight hours.“
—Anonymous
11. “I grew up on a dairy farm and worked for other farmers in the area. I can tell you that every animal is treated very well. If they aren’t, they won’t give milk or be worth anything on the beef market. The milk is carefully filtered, and each load of milk that was picked up was tested for white blood cells (sick cows) or antibiotics (cows being treated).”
“Cows that might have either one in their milk were milked separately, and the milk is discarded. If a load of milk was tested positive for white blood cells or antibiotics, the whole load was dumped.”
12. “I used to work as a delivery driver for a pizza chain restaurant when I was at college. If my shift started at 4 p.m. and finished at 11 p.m., I’d get pretty hungry. If a customer called to say their order was wrong, the policy was to send them out a new one, and they have to give the wrong one back to the driver (to take back to the store).”
“Well, at my store, the manager was super chill and didn’t check that we brought the wrong pizza back (it would just go in the trash anyway), so I would deliver the new pizza, take the old one, and damn well eat it. I gained so much weight working there.”
—Anonymous
13. “My father used to run a company that made everything related to pork for major brands or stores. Whenever we would see low-price or high-quality meat on TV ads, he would tell us which production line had made it in the same factory.”
14. “I’m a server and bartender. Yes, we ABSOLUTELY talk badly about you. Sometimes right next to you. Every person on staff will know what a jerk you’re being — cooks and managers included. Sometimes it’s really nice stuff, too, like people who make you laugh or really sweet kids. But if you’re awful, we’ll talk about you for YEARS.”
And finally…
15. “ALL RESTAURANTS HAVE MICE. It’s about how well the restaurant stays on top of it. Listen, in the winter, mice look for two things: food and warmth. It’s not uncommon for them to be found under the ovens when the temperatures drpp.”
“And in older buildings, holes are created by years of the building settling as well as outside rodents breaking their way into the nooks and crannies.“
Whew. Fellow food industry employees, what other shocking secrets about your job should more people know? Let us know in the comments below.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
