Former McDonald’s chef explains why they don’t have access to knives in their kitchens

A former corporate McDonald's chef revealed a little known secret about the fast food chain's kitchens.

As of this year, there are said to be over 13,000 McDonald's restaurants scattered across the US - and all of them will follow this one usual rule.

Mike Haracz used to be a corporate chef for the fast food giant, and often takes to social media to share anecdotes about McDonald's, especially things you were unlikely to have known about the franchise.

Now, when you think of must-have items in a McDonald's kitchen, there are a few things that come to mind. A fridge, maybe? Spatular? A McFlurry machine? Deep fat fryers?

Yes, they'll all likely be there, but something that won't be is a kitchen knife.

Mike often answers people's questions on TikTok, and one person pondered: "Random question: If I wanted McDonald’s to cut a burger in half for me, do they even have access to a knife to do that?"

The short answer to that is, no - but when Mike further elaborated on why, it kind of made sense.

Apparently you won't find any knives in a McDonald's kitchen (Getty Stock)

"They do not have a knife because there is nothing in the McDonald’s restaurant that the crew need to chop or cut for any reason," he explained.

“Cheese comes in cut, tomatoes come in pre-sliced, lettuce comes shredded.

“I think there’s lemon wedges, if there’s like lemon for tea, but that has a lemon wedger, or a citrus wedger contraption.”

Mike went on: "Onions are already cut, dehydrated onions are dehydrated and mashed up, so there is nothing they would need a knife for."

In terms of having a utensil suitable for opening pouches and things, apparently McDonald's other items that can do this in lieu of a knife.

Mike Haracz worked as a corporate McDonald's chef for 4 years (chefmikeharacz/Instagram)

Viewers rushed to the comments over concerns of how on earth they will be able to have their burger cut up.

And one had experienced the alleged ordeal, and said: “They actually used a spatula. They did it for me."

Another person in shock said: “A kitchen with no knives is wild!! Surely they’d use a plastic or wooden knife?"

Then an ex McDonald's employee weighed in, saying: "I was told we can’t cut anything in half because that changes the serving size, and we don’t sell smaller servings, so it would be misleading and wrong to serve a product that isn’t accurate to the calorie info we share."

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