Most people have eaten at KFC at least once in their life and have probably
seen hundreds of their ads on TV. But have you ever thought about what it's
actually like working for Colonel Sanders? Keep watching to find out.
In a TikTok video, a KFC employee spilled the secret on how KFC makes some of its
food and it turns out there's more actual cooking involved than you might think.
The video shows an employee making KFC gravy by whisking together bits of excess fried chicken,
water, and a spice packet. The video also shows how KFC's crispy strips
are hand-floured and breaded and then deep-fried in-store. That's a far cry
from the frozen already-fried chicken strips you might expect from a fast food joint.
The video led to some mixed reactions,
with some people being disgusted and others gaining more respect for KFC's food.
No matter the meal, making food is almost certainly a mess.
That's even more true when you're talking about cooking massive
amounts of chicken that needs to be floured, spiced, and fried all day.
In response to a question in a KFC reddit thread asking workers what's the one thing they
don't like about working at the joint, the first response was the messy nature of being a fry cook.
As one person responded:
"Flour all over you. Grease all over you. I would take a shower with my clothes on
so I didn't wake up my roommate with the washing machine every f---ing time I worked."
The mess is more than just a hygiene thing for some workers.
A recently hired employee posted on Reddit that they have celiac and were wondering if
they would be fine despite all the flour in the air. In response, a former employee said:
"People used to wear face masks because the density
of flour in the air made it hard to breathe."
"Chicken with fries,
please...chicken with fries...chicken with fries, please mate...chicken with fries…"
There are rush hours, and there are random rushes when working at KFC. That's just part of the job —
and that's true for many people in the restaurant and fast food industry. Yet it doesn't take much
to overwhelm the system when your employer has multiple deals that cater to large gatherings.
When a mass of people come in and orders are put through for fried chicken,
"The chicken all gets put in the cookers at once,
and when they finish, they all come out at once, [...] and the [manager] is getting
pissed cause you're unable to rack up 200 wicked wings in the span of 2 minutes."
Some people can't hang under pressure, either, which just makes the situation worse,
as you can imagine. Another employee posted in the same thread that when people put in,
quote, "ridiculously larger orders" (as in anything over $70),
"A few of my coworkers become way too stressed out
and panicked over an order taking a bit too long to be served out."
If you want to be a good customer and help out with the flow of things as well
as get the freshest chicken possible, one former employee left some advice on Reddit:
"If you have a big order, order ahead of time as they will usually cook a dedicated batch."
“What do we do about the bones?" "We do this. This is what we do.”
There's no disputing that food waste is bad. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Americans waste between 30 and 40 percent of the food supply due to spoilage,
equipment malfunction, and over-ordering. One other major issue adding to the problem:
"Consumers also contribute to food loss when
they buy or cook more than they need and choose to throw out the extras."
Some KFC employees have seen food waste issues at their locations first hand.
On a Reddit post about things that bothered the poster "about the ethics of KFC,"
food waste was at the top of the list. The poster wrote:
"I just wanna know how other people feel about the
ridiculous amount of chicken that goes in the bin every single day."
The responses to their question were mixed, with some noting that they've seen
similar waste issues while working at places like Subway and Burger King.
Extra chicken isn't always wasted depending on the location and how lenient the manager is.
One former worker noted that if they worked past closing time,
then employees had the chance to take home the leftovers that would normally be thrown out.
When the drinks really start to set in after a long night out, nothing is better than hot,
greasy fried chicken that you don't have to cook yourself. So maybe it shouldn't come as
a surprise that employees have to deal with their fair share of intoxicated customers.
It happens enough for there to be plenty of memes
about eating KFC while in an altered state of mind.
Or as a user posted in the Shower Thoughts Subreddit:
"A chicken was hatched, raised in captivity, butchered and processed,
distributed and cooked, so that I could drop it on the sidewalk walking home drunk from KFC."
It's not just the normal suspects who get the drunchies cravings for KFC, either.
Case in point: the New Zealand mayor who was caught drunk driving for a quick KFC pit stop.
Long story short, if you're working at a fast food joint that sells the very comfort
food that people crave after drinking a few too many, you're going to need a lot of patience.
While it's surely possible for some to work up through the rankings and earn a good living in
manager or corporate positions at KFC, others are working at the fast food chain as more of
a way to make some money until they move on to the next period of their career or education.
KFC offers a tuition initiative called the REACH Educational Grant Program to help "employees
at participating KFC U.S. restaurants pursue their dreams of going to college."
The program is relatively open for multiple uses:
"Employees of any age, any position, pursuing any degree can receive money
to help them attend the accredited four-year or two-year college of their choice. The money can
also be used at trade/vocational schools and for graduate study."
KFC won't pay for the entirety of your schooling, but the money can help.
On Reddit's r/KFC, a confused drive-thru customer came looking for an answer to
what they described as a, quote, "weird request from the drive-thru employee":
"She asked me to back all the way up and then pull forward again because, 'they're on a timer.'"
According to one responder, the employee needed to improve their drive-thru order
completion times and having the person roll through twice
was serving two people quickly, rather than one person slowly.
"My diet is ruined, I hope you're happy.
Uh, okay. Two Renaissance wraps, no mayo, chewy rings." - "I'll have the medieval meal."
KFC employees have also posted about the struggles of working the drive-thru.
One noted that the drive-thru is only faster than walking in,
quote, "if you know EXACTLY what you want when you drive in." They said:
"It's okay if you have an idea but aren't sure and have a few questions,
but please don't come in clueless."
When people go to a fast food restaurant, they expect their food to be ready fast. But that's
not always possible, and employees are the first to hear from customers who don't understand that.
"Let me ask you something, how hard is your job?
How intelligent do you have to be to take a food order?"
One worker posted on KFC's subreddit,
"My fellow employees know the people that complain about chicken wait times
are the same people that complain about chicken not being fresh."
Chicken filets take a different time to cook than boneless chicken, which takes a different time
than bone-in chicken, of course. Exactly how long might surprise you. One employee replied
that the original chicken takes 16 minutes to cook, crispy takes 15 minutes and 30 seconds,
tenders take four minutes, and filets take seven minutes after breading them.
In another employee's post about their biggest pet peeves while working at KFC,
multiple peeves related to freshness and time complaints. They said,
"Customers [tell] us to cook another batch cause they'd rather wait for fresh. Sorry, we
can't waste chicken like that, our stock is full and we have nowhere to put the fresh chicken."
And, of course, when customers complain about a
wait when there's an obvious line of 30 customers ahead of them.
Some fast food chains have built a reputation from special orders,
secret menus, and menu hacks that every dedicated customer knows. While those can be
fun for the person doing the eating, asking for anything off menu makes everyone's job harder.
One customer seems to have noticed this and asked the KFC reddit community if it's,
quote, "normal to only ask for thighs and or breasts in a Chicken Bucket"
The answer, as you might expect, is that yes, this happens all the time. One KFC employee noted:
"It can be a bit annoying if the customer gets frustrated when we do not have it. But
when everyone is ordering special orders, it degrades the stock quite quickly."
Others acknowledged that as annoying as it is,
the least you can do is call ahead to make it less of a pain for the kitchen.
One other thing to keep in mind, according to an employee who responded to the question:
"Some stores charge $1 per breast to swap it out with another piece, so it'll get expensive fast."
According to the website Workstream, free food for KFC employees during their shift is a relatively
common perk. There are even discounts when the person isn't working that day. Still,
it depends on which location the employee is at, and discounts vary from ten percent to 30 percent.
On Glassdoor, employees have gotten specific about the food benefits. An employee in Toledo,
Ohio, commented that employees at their location, quote, "are allowed to eat the
food we cook on our breaks." Another in Lancaster, California, added that,
"When you work, they will provide you with a free meal.
You can have any of the $5 dollar meals with a drink."
And then there was the employee who noted that they get a two-piece chicken meal
and two sides if they work six or more hours.
KFC is owned by Yum! Brands, which also owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut,
and The Habit Burger and Grill. It's not uncommon to see ones that have been combined so there are
two chains in one building. A KFC and Pizza Hut, for example, or a KFC and a Taco Bell.
As one employee at a KFC and Taco Bell combination location put it on Reddit:
"For some people, just pizza or just fried chicken or just tacos isn't enough.
This is America, why should you have to choose? So, they have these combination
restaurants to fill all your needs, where you can order from both at the same time."
Double the restaurant means more customers, and double the number of orders. That can
mean that workers may have to take some shortcuts. One employee at a KFC and Taco
Bell location noted on Reddit that they've had to take steps to make sure they get the
food out on time. Biscuits are pre-buttered, for example, and cookies aren't made in-house.
For the chicken strips, they're blanched for the entire day rather than made as needed.
It's impossible to deny that humans need some entertainment in their lives,
even at work. That's where little employee games come into play.
One employee posted on Reddit that they make their
shift go by faster with a bingo game. It's simple, but the worker adds,
"It helps shifts pass a little bit and helps us laugh every time we hear a new bingo entry."
Another employee at a KFC and Taco Bell combination restaurant added in the same
thread that they hold competitions to see who is faster based off of drive-thru times
to make the day better. The prize? A small bit of money and for the winners to be addressed as
royalty and greeted with "How are you, your majesty?" whenever they start their shift.
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