For a fast-food brand that has ‘I’m lovin’ it’ as its motto, it is quite contradictory
when its own staff refuses to eat certain menu items, let alone love them. Whether it's
items on the menu now, or items that were discontinued, these are 10 more McDonald's
menu items that even the staff wouldn't eat.
Big Breakfast with Hotcakes
If there is one thing that Americans have celebrated with great abandon in recent times
is the introduction of all-day breakfast at McDonald’s. And among the most popular breakfast
items on the menu is their Big Breakfast with Hotcakes. As the name rightly states, this
is a big breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, a fatty sausage, greasy hash browns,
buttery biscuit and a stack of indulgent pancakes known as ‘hotcakes’. The big breakfast
is accompanied by a small container of syrup and extra butter, just in case you thought
that there wasn’t enough fat in your big breakfast! As you may have guessed, this Big
Breakfast with Hotcakes has a ton of carbs, sugar, sodium and fat; all the ingredients
that are not recommended for an ideal start to the day. The breakfast may be tasty, but
the instant sugar spike and sugar crash after a few hours are not at all good for you. Is
it any wonder that most McDonald’s staff won’t ever eat this breakfast? With an entire
day’s intake of sugar, fat and sodium consumed at breakfast, what are we left for the rest
of the day? Thus, having the Big Breakfast with Hotcakes is clearly not how to start
your day right.
McDLT
The McDLT is, at best, an eccentric McDonald’s creation that involved a deconstructed burger
and a special polystyrene container. It was served in two joined containers that held
the ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ ingredients of a burger separately. The top bun and toppings
were placed in one container and the bottom bun and patty were in another. And the customer
was required to assemble the burger when it was time to eat. The logic behind this arrangement
was probably to ensure that the toppings, like sauces and veggies, would not make the
bun soggy or get weirdly warm from the hot burger. But unfortunately for them, customers
simply didn’t get the fuss behind the special container. Plus, the polystyrene container
was not at all eco-friendly and was widely criticized by environmental groups. The main
reason why the staff probably hated it was that customers didn't want to assemble their
own burgers and the staff was just doing what they were told, separating the burger and
sending it out on it's way. The staff was being paid to separate the burger, while the
customers thought they were paying for a fully assembled burger, conflict ensued.
Shamrock Shake
Working all day at McDonald’s, handling fast-food, and getting to see how it’s made
has probably wisened them up into not consuming many items on the menu, including the Shamrock
Shake. Though it has a catchy name, the Shamrock Shake is more of a sham than a shake. There
is nothing Irish about it and is loaded with sugar. Clocking in at well over 500 calories
for just 16 ounces, this shake is bad news for your heart, blood pressure, waistline
and overall health. It comes in at 63 grams of sugar for a small and 112 grams of sugar
for a large. That's roughly 15 packets of sugar for a small and 28 packets of sugar
for a large. The Shamrock Shake gets most of its calories from the sugar and carbs,
which in such large amounts per serving is quite detrimental to your well-being. And
if you are wondering about the actual ingredients of the shake, they’re quite simple - vanilla
ice cream, whipped cream and Shamrock Shake syrup, which is where the beverage gets its
green color from. Most adults should ideally limit their daily sugar intake to about 24-36
gm per day, but just one serving of the Shamrock Shake and you’ve already crossed your daily
limit, two-fold, or even three-fold. This frozen treat generally makes its appearance
around St. Patrick’s Day, and McDonald’s has sold millions of these. But we’re quite
sure that the staff has never tried it.
Onion Nuggets
Long before the now-famous Chicken McNuggets came into being, there were Onion Nuggets.
In simple terms, you just remove the chicken and replace it with chunks of onion. An invention
of a McDonald’s cook, Rene Arend, Onion Nuggets were first launched in the late 1970s.
They were the chunky version of onion rings - soft and juicy on the inside and crunchy
on the outside. Like most other fried sides, these were served with a dipping sauce. But
what is most fascinating about the Onion Nuggets is that there is hardly any information available
about them and most customers don’t recall tasting them.This is mainly due to the success
of McDonald's own Chicken McNuggets, which just dwarfed the Onion Nuggets in popularity.
Even though the concept of Onion Nuggets doesn’t sound very abnormal, customers probably couldn’t
get their mind around the combination of chicken nuggets and onion rings. Like the staff, they
probably weren’t able to fathom what this unusual item would taste like. It’s no wonder
then that Chicken McNuggets made their debut soon after and continue to be loved even today.
McCafe Chocolate Shake
Shakes and sodas top the list of items that McDonald’s staff would rarely ever consume
themselves. Reddit is full of threads from former or current McDonald’s employees who
go on to state that the drink machines at McD’s outlets are extremely dirty, neglected,
and unhygienic because they are not cleaned very often. So ordering milkshakes at McDonald’s
is probably a bad idea. But some staff members do maintain that their locations clean out
the McCafe machines on a nightly basis. So, the hygiene factor of the beverages really
depends on the outlet that you are visiting. But there is no way of knowing which outlet
has clean McCafe machines and which does not! Besides the hygiene bit, most McDonald’s staff admit
that the McCafe Chocolate Shake is one of the items that they themselves would never
order. It is a sugar bomb, where a small serving has about 74 gm of sugar, 530 calories and
15 gm of fat. All-in-all, it has more calories than a McDouble or several sugary glazed donuts.
And if you order a large serving of the McCafe Chocolate Shake, the calorie count is through
the roof.
McHotDog
Though McDonald’s was founded by Richard and Maurice McDonald (the McDonald brothers),
it was Ray Kroc who took the small burger chain to international heights. He was a visionary
leader who made McD’s a giant in the world of fast food. And while he was the man behind
the global popularity of McDonald’s, there was one item that he was thoroughly opposed
to - hot dogs. We don’t know if it was from personal bad experience or something else,
but Kroc really hated hot dogs and had reportedly mandated that they would never be served at
McDonald’s. But soon after his death, the executives at McD’s went in for the kill
and released the McHotDog in the 1990s. Not the wisest decision. It would have served
the successors of Kroc to have heeded his advice and refrained from selling hot dogs
at McDonald’s because the McHotDog was a huge flop. Customers just couldn’t associate
hot dogs with McDonald’s and the sales never translated to profits. Perhaps the customers
and staff both agreed with Kroc’s repulsion of unknown meat served in a bun, which could
be the reason why the McHotDog didn’t quite take off. And probably the reason why even
the staff wouldn’t eat it. No wonder it was soon discontinued.
McSpaghetti
An item from the 1980s, McSpaghetti is one of the many pasta-based items that McDonald’s
tried to introduce in the American market. Along with McPizza, lasagna, and a fettuccine-Alfredo-like
dish, McSpaghetti was not much liked by customers or the staff. It reportedly tasted like noodles
served with ketchup to some customers or like pasta topped with generic sauce from the supermarket,
which is quite unappetizing. It is rumored that McSpaghetti was introduced in order to
compete with the likes of Pizza Hut and Domino’s in the area of Italian fast-food. But customers
found the taste lacking and the staff reportedly found that the McSpaghetti took too long to
prepare. Thus, it was subsequently removed from McDonald’s menus in the U.S. Though
it does have a large fan following in several Asian countries like the Philippines and Japan.
In fact, it is extremely popular in the Philippines and is a regular menu item there. We wonder
if the staff there likes it too!
McLean Deluxe
Another weird McDonald’s item that the unfortunate staff was once upon a time forced to make
was the McLean Deluxe. Also unfortunate are the customers who tried it, for the McLean
Deluxe was described by most as gross or funky tasting. The idea behind the McLean Deluxe
was that it was a low-fat burger that was meant to appeal to diet-conscious eaters.
The words ‘McDonald’s’ and ‘diet-conscious’ do not belong in the same sentence, for most
of McD’s food is far from healthy. The McLean Deluxe was said to be 91% fat-free, but when
they removed all the fat from the beef patty, they reportedly replaced it with water and
then added a seaweed-based coagulant called carrageenan to hold the patty together. So,
it would essentially be a gummy and watery burger with some bits of meat thrown in. Unsurprisingly,
not many found this savory or appealing, including the staff. When customers caught wind of the
fact that water and seaweed was being added to the McLean Deluxe, it grossed them out
and the orders stopped coming in. The item failed and the staff breathed a sigh of relief.
McGratin Croquette
Japan seems to be a popular place for many fast-food chains to introduce wacky items
and McDonald’s did just that by launching the McGratin Croquette. It is a burger with
a patty made up of mashed potatoes, creamed shrimp, and macaroni that has been deep-fried
to a golden brown color. This fried patty is placed on a bed of lettuce and sandwiched
between two buns. It made its debut in Japanese McDonald's locations and was actually really
liked by some fast food go-ers in Japan. It's also known as Gura-Koro, gura meaning deep-fried
and koro meaning croquette. The McGratin Croquette never made it's way to the U.S. market, for
obvious reasons. The problem with the dish is that many felt it was just an odd combination
of flavors, even for a market keen towards this sort of flavor mash-up. This is a just
a weird one, loved by some, disliked by others. But unless this is a flavor pairing you're
dying to try, listen to the staff and stay away from this one.
The Hula Burger
By now we’ve seen some really outrageous McDonald’s creations and The Hula Burger
is definitely a worthy candidate. Invented in the 1960s by none other than Ray Kroc,
the Hula Burger was primarily aimed at attracting Catholics practising abstinence from meat
on Fridays and decided to come up with an alternative for them. He decided to replace
the meat patty in the burger with a slice of grilled pineapple. The resulting burger
was pineapple, cheese, and bun. Try to imagine the taste and we’re sure that unless your
tastebuds are on a vacation, you’re highly unlikely to take more than a single bite of
this ridiculous combination. This pineapple-based sandwich is reportedly one of McDonald’s
earliest failures, and we can only imagine what the staff felt while making it. The Hula
Burger was quickly killed and replaced with the Filet-o-Fish, which as we all know, is
still going strong.
Tap that screen for more great videos and click on that subscribe button and notification
bell.