From McDonald’s golden arches to KFC’s colonel, chain restaurants operate all around the world. However, there are still plenty of things we don’t know about them—every business wants to get ahead of the competition, and to do so, they might try practices they want to keep on the down-low.

To gain a better understanding of the industry, we started digging around the internet and discovered a few discussions where people who worked at these establishments have been sharing insider secrets they learned on the job. Here are some of the most interesting ones.

Read More: 30 Chain Restaurant Employees Share Industry Secrets Most Of The Customers Don’t Know About

#1

At Chipotle, the servers usually put more ingredients into the bowl version rather than the burrito version. However, you can ask for the wrap on the side when you order the bowl version for no extra cost. This way, you can make your own burrito with more ingredients for the same price.

Image credits: burnswuff

#2

I used to be a waiter and it wasn’t my fault that it’s taking forever for your food to come out. That’s the kitchen’s fault. Yelling at me won’t make it come out any faster. You’re just making me sad and ruining my night 🙁 I’m a person too.

Image credits: Ospov

#3

Not a restaurant, but we serve food too. The $7 tub of popcorn you buy at a movie theater costs about 9¢ to make.

Image credits: themicahnator

#4

Panera is pretty much just as bad for you as McDonald’s. People come in thinking they’re eating healthy, but they’re really not.

The Italian Combo used to have more than a thousand calories, but they took some stuff off so it’s 980 now. All the soups have >1000mg of sodium (Italian Combo has >2000mg or a day’s worth). A You Pick Two with Broccoli Cheddar, Frontega, and bread on the side is not significantly different from a McDouble with medium fries.

EDIT: And the “fresh-squeezed lemonade” is made from cartons of concentrate and regular old faucet water. Green tea is the same.

Image credits: capgras_delusion

#5

The “delivery fee” is not a tip that goes to delivery drivers.

Image credits: anon

#6

I work at a Papa John’s and as you may know Papa John’s brags about never frozen ingredients. Well, that’s a big lie. Every time that we get a truck with food all the meats are frozen. The apple pie topping also comes frozen. The only things that don’t come frozen are the dough and the vegetables.

Image credits: KirchoffRegime

#7

I used to work at Romano’s Macaroni Grill and their delicious Rosemary Herb Bread comes in frozen and is stored at room temperature. It must be loaded with a million kinds of preservatives to last sitting two weeks in a storage closet.

Image credits: VictoryVino

#8

I also used to work at Applebees, and can confirm that steaks are microwaved. At the location I was at the cooks threw them on the grill after the microwave to get char marks on them. Seriously guys, don’t order steaks there.

Image credits: missmaryalice

#9

Chipotle’s deep, dark secret… It’s 50/50 lemon lime juice in the rice. Oh no! Seriously, that place was above-board all around.

Image credits: BridgetteBane

#10

The servers are in charge of making bread sticks at Olive Garden. I can’t remember exactly how it worked but all the soup/salad/bread sticks were done by the servers. Two servers would usually be scheduled to be in charge of those things. I can’t remember if the breadsticks were frozen or fresh…but I think they were fresh. As soon as they came out of the oven they were slathered in butter and salted, and they usually didn’t last long. So chances are the breadsticks you get at Olive Garden are gonna be fresh and tasty. We were told that a table gets one bread stick per person and then one extra…this did not help curb massive consumption of bread sticks.

Once we had to throw out a bunch of old boxes…one of which I managed to take home. I ate bread sticks for at least a month…it was glorious.

Image credits: Invisllama

#11

I worked at a Culver’s a few years ago, and some people know, but I don’t think many do, the burgers are fresh. They are portioned out hamburger, not pre-made patties. They take a cube of hamburger and press it on the grill as soon as you say you want a Butterburger. Also, chicken salad is made fresh every Wednesday morning.

So unlike Wendy’s that says they have fresh, never frozen burgers (I find it hard to believe), Culver’s actually does. And for those that don’t know Culver’s, it’s a “fast food” burger/ice cream restaurant. After eating there for a year, I still am not sick of it.

Image credits: anon

#12

I work at mcdonalds: if you ever want to get fresh fries cooked hot for you order them with no salt. The normal fries can get old and if you order no salt then we have to make a new batch and not add salt. It will take 3 extra minutes but you will get freshass fries and you can salt them yourself.

Image credits: straightclownin

#13

I used to work for Chick-Fil-A back in high school. Practically everything but the waffle fries and maybe the chicken salad (someone else confirm this) were made in the store. We breaded the chicken, we assembled the cool wraps, and I would cut countless boxes of fresh lemons, squeeze them in a machine and add sugar every shift. There is not a thing on the menu that I would not eat. Moreover, the employees would get to take home the cool wraps if there were any at the end of the night.

Image credits: SlimJD

#14

Chili’s

The molten cake that everyone seems to love is frozen. The paradise pie is frozen. If you complain that your food isn’t hot enough, it just goes into the microwave. Oh, and people used to ask for the queso recipe all the time…it’s delivered to the restaurant in a bag. The cooks would just heat it up and dump it in a skillet.

When the dishes came out of wash, there would still be wet lettuce and food particles stuck on the plates and silverware, and we’d just wipe it off. Makes me want to use plastic ware at every restaurant now.

Most of these things probably aren’t secrets though.

Image credits: UnderD4Donut

#15

I work at Panera bread. Although the dough comes Pre-made from another place. Everything there is “as advertised”. The leftovers get donated, and the managers are nice to the employees. As a company, Panera is probably one of the few that are honest.

Image credits: OogahBoogah

#16

Employees at Chuck E. Cheese use the same towels to clean the arcade games as they do tables. Also, the tubes that your children crawl in are usually only cleaned once a month, if that. Don’t take your kids to Chuck E. Cheese. (former employee).

Image credits: geoffham

#17

When you complain that the coffee isn’t fresh, we take your cup, add hot water to it, and give it back to you. no one has ever been able to tell the difference and usually go on about how much better it tastes now.

Image credits: lauralouhoo

#18

Any employees from IHOP here? That place always seemed really shadey…
Once, I ordered a BLT and found a piece of banana under the sandwich. I’m guessing they really don’t clean their plates, either.

You Might Also Like: 55 Single-Panel Comics That Are Humorous And Silly By Jeff Swenson

Image credits: just2good