Burger King - rip off
- Thread starter jaybee
- Start date
If you don't like it don't eat there - check
For some bizzarre reason I genuinely dreamt about being in Burger King and watching my ordered burger get microwaved, and I even remember in the dream thinking "I have to post in the thread about this". No idea why I dreamt about it, or why I remember it so vividly... completely and utterly random. 
Soldato
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Pricey? i paid £8 for a double xxl bacon chesse burger in my city. Mcdonalds just tastes of disappointment.
Soldato
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Well, I thought that I would pitch in here as I worked in a Burger King for several years. It may have changed since I left, but here is what used to be true:
The burgers were frozen 'pattys' and were cooked by passing them through what was called a flame broiler. Essentially a broiler was a metal conveyor that passes through an enclosure with gas tubes below, and what appeared to be electric heating elements above. The flame grilled part comes from the fat within the burger dripping onto the gas flame below it and igniting in a whoosh. This is also why the flame grilled searing marks were only ever on one side of the burger patty
Incidentally the burger pattys were approximately twice the size of the cooked product - you could play Frisbee with them if you wanted! The burgers took approximately 60-70 seconds to go from frozen to fully cooked.
The broiler also toasted the buns by using a separate conveyor. On the other side of the broiler a member of staff would put the burgers into buns and then place them in what was called a steamer. Essentially this was a vat full of steaming water with metal trays suspended over it for placing the burgers on. The heat and steam was kept in via sliding 'doors' on the top. There was a time limit as to how long burgers could be kept in the steamer before being thrown away, but I cant remember how long it was. I think it was supposed to be something like 10 minutes, but normally it was at least half an hour, sometimes an hour. In really slow periods, the food was always cooked fresh as using the steamers generated a lot of needless waste. A good burger prepper would regularly check their steamer and any burger looking less than its best would be binned and the waste recorded.
When an order was placed at the till, it was automatically transferred onto the relevant screen in the kitchen to allow the burger prep guys to make everything needed. There were several screens - one on the whopper counter, one on the cheeseburger counter and one on the chicken and beanburger counter.
The burgers would be made to what was on the screens, but in busy periods certain types of burger would just be made to fill the chutes so customers waited less for their food.
Making a Whopper with cheese (as an example) consisted of firstly marking the burger box with an oil based pencil - you would circle the type of burger, and cross out any ingredients that the customer had asked to be omitted and finally mark the time it was due to be discarded - burgers could only be kept in the chute for 10 mins then they had to be thrown away. The marking was simple and customers in the know could check and ask for a replacement if needed. The marking worked as follows, along the front of the box were the numbers 1-12 and when preparing the burger you checked the time, and if it was 13:20, you would mark the number 6. The till staff would know that when the minute hand of the clock reached 6, the burger had to be thrown away.
Anyway, I digress, to continue making the burger you would then take a burger out of the steamer (at this point it is just the meat in the bread) and remove the crown of the bun. You then placed the meat and the heel of the bun in the burger box and add two slices of processed cheese. You then put the burger and the heel of the bun (still in the box) in the microwave that used a pre set timer to warm the meat and melt the cheese. As this was happening you would spread mayonnaise on the crown of the bun, sprinkle it with lettuce and add two rings of tomato. Once the burger was done in the microwave you would take it out add 4 slices of pickle, some onion and a swirl of ketchup. You would then take the crown of the bun and 'flip' it over onto the burger and close the box and et viola! Off it goes down the chute.
As for the value - BK have always been expensive, but the quality of a good BK burger is far in excess of a MacDonald's. However, I admit it is hit and miss depending on the outlet. Having made many of my own burgers in my time at BK, I can safely say there has never been a MacDonald's burger to match it. I recently had a BK in a newly opened outlet and it was beautiful. It was fresh (I can tell it hadn't seen a steamer for long), hot, well dressed with fresh salad and had a lovely soft fresh bun. One of the best burgers I have had in a long time. Having said that, I'm not sure it was worth the £8+ I paid for the meal and the fries were...well.....meh. Hate em, always have
I was working at BK when they introduced 'king fries' and I have never been a fan. Give me MacDonald's fries any day of the week!
By the way, any good BK will cook your burger to order if you ask them and you don't mind waiting.
I will always prefer a good BK burger over a Macdonald's but I think MacDonlads lead the way because they are so consistent and they are cheaper. They offer a generally cleaner looking and feeling environment too. As with many KFC's, many BK's are often scruffy looking, don't have enough staff and have the kind of toilets you would expect to see in a public park. I think maybe they have invested less into the franchise and don't control it as tightly? However, if you are lucky enough to find a good BK, it is worth a treat every now and then I hate how expensive BK's are but don't mind paying the price occasionally when I know the outlet is a good one.
I have to say though, MacDonald's is where I often go for my morning cup of coffee, and if I am feeling really naughty I have a chocolate muffin with it!!
Buff
The burgers were frozen 'pattys' and were cooked by passing them through what was called a flame broiler. Essentially a broiler was a metal conveyor that passes through an enclosure with gas tubes below, and what appeared to be electric heating elements above. The flame grilled part comes from the fat within the burger dripping onto the gas flame below it and igniting in a whoosh. This is also why the flame grilled searing marks were only ever on one side of the burger patty
Incidentally the burger pattys were approximately twice the size of the cooked product - you could play Frisbee with them if you wanted! The burgers took approximately 60-70 seconds to go from frozen to fully cooked. The broiler also toasted the buns by using a separate conveyor. On the other side of the broiler a member of staff would put the burgers into buns and then place them in what was called a steamer. Essentially this was a vat full of steaming water with metal trays suspended over it for placing the burgers on. The heat and steam was kept in via sliding 'doors' on the top. There was a time limit as to how long burgers could be kept in the steamer before being thrown away, but I cant remember how long it was. I think it was supposed to be something like 10 minutes, but normally it was at least half an hour, sometimes an hour. In really slow periods, the food was always cooked fresh as using the steamers generated a lot of needless waste. A good burger prepper would regularly check their steamer and any burger looking less than its best would be binned and the waste recorded.
When an order was placed at the till, it was automatically transferred onto the relevant screen in the kitchen to allow the burger prep guys to make everything needed. There were several screens - one on the whopper counter, one on the cheeseburger counter and one on the chicken and beanburger counter.
The burgers would be made to what was on the screens, but in busy periods certain types of burger would just be made to fill the chutes so customers waited less for their food.
Making a Whopper with cheese (as an example) consisted of firstly marking the burger box with an oil based pencil - you would circle the type of burger, and cross out any ingredients that the customer had asked to be omitted and finally mark the time it was due to be discarded - burgers could only be kept in the chute for 10 mins then they had to be thrown away. The marking was simple and customers in the know could check and ask for a replacement if needed. The marking worked as follows, along the front of the box were the numbers 1-12 and when preparing the burger you checked the time, and if it was 13:20, you would mark the number 6. The till staff would know that when the minute hand of the clock reached 6, the burger had to be thrown away.
Anyway, I digress, to continue making the burger you would then take a burger out of the steamer (at this point it is just the meat in the bread) and remove the crown of the bun. You then placed the meat and the heel of the bun in the burger box and add two slices of processed cheese. You then put the burger and the heel of the bun (still in the box) in the microwave that used a pre set timer to warm the meat and melt the cheese. As this was happening you would spread mayonnaise on the crown of the bun, sprinkle it with lettuce and add two rings of tomato. Once the burger was done in the microwave you would take it out add 4 slices of pickle, some onion and a swirl of ketchup. You would then take the crown of the bun and 'flip' it over onto the burger and close the box and et viola! Off it goes down the chute.
As for the value - BK have always been expensive, but the quality of a good BK burger is far in excess of a MacDonald's. However, I admit it is hit and miss depending on the outlet. Having made many of my own burgers in my time at BK, I can safely say there has never been a MacDonald's burger to match it. I recently had a BK in a newly opened outlet and it was beautiful. It was fresh (I can tell it hadn't seen a steamer for long), hot, well dressed with fresh salad and had a lovely soft fresh bun. One of the best burgers I have had in a long time. Having said that, I'm not sure it was worth the £8+ I paid for the meal and the fries were...well.....meh. Hate em, always have
I was working at BK when they introduced 'king fries' and I have never been a fan. Give me MacDonald's fries any day of the week!
By the way, any good BK will cook your burger to order if you ask them and you don't mind waiting.
I will always prefer a good BK burger over a Macdonald's but I think MacDonlads lead the way because they are so consistent and they are cheaper. They offer a generally cleaner looking and feeling environment too. As with many KFC's, many BK's are often scruffy looking, don't have enough staff and have the kind of toilets you would expect to see in a public park. I think maybe they have invested less into the franchise and don't control it as tightly? However, if you are lucky enough to find a good BK, it is worth a treat every now and then
I hate how expensive BK's are but don't mind paying the price occasionally when I know the outlet is a good one.I have to say though, MacDonald's is where I often go for my morning cup of coffee, and if I am feeling really naughty I have a chocolate muffin with it!!
Buff
It doesn't matter what you say, people will still say "ugg, microwaved rubbish".
Soldato
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Well, I guess they are partly right as they do mostly get microwaved during their life
But, yeah, I know what you mean
Very interesting, thanks for posting!
Soldato
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Because calling it a 'microwave burger' implies it's cooked in the microwave when in reality it's cooked in a broiler, then given a 10 second blast in the microwave to re-heat it slightly. Only the lower half of the bun goes in the microwave and that's even if it does at all (when I worked there the microwave blast was only to melt cheese or heat bacon).
Soldato
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He didn't say it was, he said it was microwaved to melt the cheese (as I've said above).
People are going a bit OTT with this microwave thing, in no way are BK burgers 'cooked' in the microwave. They are blasted to melt cheese or heat bacon but we're talking 10 seconds here, it's not in there long enough to alter the taste or texture of the burger in any way.
It's not like a Rustlers or anything
Great post BuffetSlayer - like a fast-food expose!
To be honest, the process doesn't sound all that bad considering. When I go into a burger joint for a bit of junk food I'm not exactly expecting it to be prepared gormet style from ultra-fresh ingredients!
To be honest, the process doesn't sound all that bad considering. When I go into a burger joint for a bit of junk food I'm not exactly expecting it to be prepared gormet style from ultra-fresh ingredients!
Soldato
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When I worked there we were trained to microwave every burger unless it had literally just come off the broiler. We would microwave a hamburger or whopper irrelevant of if it had cheese or bacon. However, like estebanrey said it was only a quick blast to get some extra heat into it. It didnt need much more as the food was still pretty hot when it came out of the steamer. Mind you, they were industrial strength microwaves, and I have many cheese burns on my thumbs to prove it. Molten processed cheese is like napalm man, it just sticks and burns. It burns so bad!
The only things that didnt get microwaved are any of the chicken options on the menu, and bean burgers.
Oh man a fresh made bean burger is awesome! I love em
Once I decided on an epic burger at the end of my shift. I made myself a quadrouple whopper with cheese, topped with a chicken flamer and then topped again with a bean burger!!
It took me half an hour just to eat it!
Another one of my favourites was freshly cooked chicken nuggets, wrapped in a slice of cheese then dipped into a sauce. Nom nom nom
I also liked popping out back for a crafty ice cream now and then too.
BK has advanced a lot more than it was since I was there - broader menu, different types of food etc. But I am sure the basis of how they cook their burgers is still the same.
Seriously though, if I could take any of the BK doubters into the kitchen and make them a burger fresh, I doubt they would want a MacDonalds again
That said, you still cant beat a hand crafted patty of quality beef, with some herbs and a bit of salt and pepper. The key to any good burger is freshness. Fresh ingredients, freshly cooked fresh meat.
OK, now I have made myself hungry.
lol
Buff
Soldato
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When I worked at BK, we were trained to the 7 steps of service and the 3 minute rule.
From taking the order to saying "enjoy your meal" as you pass it to the customer was supposed to be 3 minutes.
I cant even remember what the 7 steps of service actually were any more, but suggesting extras was one.
Would you like that as a meal and gets fries and a drink?
Would you like to go large for an extra 30p?
Would you like any dessert with that?
etc etc
You get the idea.
People look down on jobs in fast food, but many of the lessons in customer service and time management/organisation that I learned at BK I still use today. Which is more than can be said from all of the stuff I learned about in university
My current job is client facing, and one of the hardest clients to deal with is one that is fed up, stressed, tired and sick of waiting in the god damned queue just to get a bite to eat.
The ones that start fighting each other are also interesting.
You see a lot from behind that till, and you have to learn to deal with it. They are lessons that are useful, though.
BK pattys cook on the broiler in a little over a minute usually. Thats why I always ask for my burger to be made freshly, and it helps that I used to work in BK. It kind of gives me an affinity with the staff because I understand their plight
We are like a band of brothers, and those who were not there will never know! They just dont understand!
Nah man, Kelis does better milkshake.
Soldato
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Although I'm probably taking my life in my hands I will usually get a burger from a Kebab shop, usually cheaper and they cook it to order.
I'm sure Burger King used to be better than it is today, I remember 8 years ago driving to BK in our free periods at sixth form. Sure I'm probably looking back through rosé tinted specs but the quality of food and value for money seemed to be much better back then.