I Work at McDonald’s – The Real Reason the McFlurry Machine is Always Off
A McDonald’s employee has shared some secrets about the fast food chain, including why the McFlurry machine is always off.
Kenya Humphries often shares insights into her life as a McDonald’s employee on social media.
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In a recent TikTok video, she revealed the answers to the questions she gets asked most often.
Why is the McFlurry machine always off?
Kenya said she is constantly asked why the ice cream machine in her McDonald’s is always turned off. She said there is a simple explanation.
“It’s just being cleaned,” she said.
Kenya said her restaurant staff takes one day a week to clean the machine and has to turn the machine off while cleaning.
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She added that she had seen a TikTok of a woman saying that staff turn off the machine when it gets busy, but that this is not the case in the store where she works.
“It’s either really cleaned or it’s been used so much that it’s broken,” she said.
Rebecca Miller, deputy editor of Fabulous, worked at McDonald’s for five years. Below, she shares her thoughts on the Kenyan revelations.
Is this true?
“I worked in a 24 hour McDonald’s Drive Thru in South Wales between the ages of 16 and 21. It was great fun but hard work and the pay was minimal – £4.35 an hour!
Our store was open every day of the year except Christmas Day, so our ice cream machine ran all day unless it was cleaned early in the morning once a week.
When the night crew arrived, the ice machine was turned off and left to thaw for a few hours, then taken apart and thoroughly cleaned and dried.
If the parts were not dried properly and liquid ice was added, the churning apparatus would freeze inside – and this would stop the machine from working. It would take a few more hours before it would be thawed, cleaned again, dried and turned back on.
So unless the ice machine is actually broken – like a part inside the machine has failed – the real reason a customer is told the machine is ‘not working’ is because the machine is frozen – and all because someone didn’t dry the parts properly…”
Why can’t you get breakfast after 11am?
Kenya says customers often get annoyed when they come in at 11:30 and she tells them breakfast is no longer being served.
However, she said that once the number of guests reaches 11, the staff should start serving the regular dishes on the menu again.
This means that they must immediately stop preparing breakfast.
“Otherwise we’re cooking breakfast while we’re putting the beef on the table,” she said. “It just doesn’t work.”
Kenya explained that if there is any bacon or eggs left over after breakfast is done, she likes to serve it to customers so that no food goes to waste.
However, if there is nothing left, the staff will no longer cook.
But what does Rebecca think of Kenya’s reason?
“She’s partly right. From about 10:30am the kitchens start to prepare for the main menu, and that means the amount of breakfast items being prepared is reduced and the machines and ingredient stations are slowly cleaned and replaced.
“The grills must be thoroughly cleaned between breakfast and the main course. Both the breakfast sausage patties and the beef burgers are cooked on the same grills, but never at the same time.
“There is never an immediate ‘stop cooking breakfast, it’s 11:00 so we have to cook Main Course.’ It’s a transition.
“And in my Drive Thru we were still taking orders until just after 11:00 am for the last few customers who were still in urgent need of breakfast.
“Just like we started serving beef around 10:50 and cooking chicken and fries for the customers who wanted an early burger.”
Why does it take so long to get helped at the drive-thru?
Kenya indicated that it can take a long time for someone at the drive-thru to ask for your order, as the waiters often have other duties as well, such as making drinks.
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If they order a lot of drinks, it’s difficult to combine both responsibilities at the same time.
“The customer comes first, so they should respond within the first five seconds.”
What was Rebecca thinking? “It depends on what time it is and how many people are working at each station.
“When it’s quiet, there’s only one person at the ‘top window’ (the first window you enter the Drive Thru and where you pay). That person takes orders for the first line and pays.
“This person (in my Drive Thru) would also be tasked with washing dishes. He is responsible for rinsing the kitchen appliances, loading and unloading the dishwasher, and replacing items.
“We also had someone at the second counter who had a headset on, who would take orders for the second line in the Drive Thru. At the same time, they would be making the drinks.”
Kenya’s video, which was posted under the username @kenyaxohas likely impressed many people, as the video has been viewed more than 429,000 times on the video platform.
TikTok users rushed to the video’s comments section to share their thoughts.
Someone said, “Make sure you eat breakfast throughout the day.”
A second person said, “The Flurry machine was always breaking down in my store and we usually cleaned it during the night shift.”
A third person said: “Breakfast should end earlier! I always crave a cheeseburger at 10am!”
