CHICAGO (NewsNation) — A former McDonald’s chef flipping the art of burgers into a social media stardom.
Mike Haracz spent four years as the U.S. manager of Culinary Innovation for McDonald’s, whipping up new menu items.
Now, Haracz is sharing his top menu hacks for the next time you stop at the Golden Arches.
Behind the scenes
The former McDonald’s chef shared a glimpse of what it looks like to be the brains behind the menu. He explained that there’s a training facility at McDonald’s corporate, which looks like a movie set, where the company can set up kitchen configurations to simulate restaurant flow while creating new menu items.
During the simulations, chefs would see if a newly added menu item could successfully sell while still being able to be served at the speed at which McDonald’s is hoping.
“It’s a pretty cool kind of place to hang out,” Haracz said.
Haracz also shared a tip that while there is a time limit on when food should be served, customers in the U.S. can ask for their food fresh to order. The best way for this to be successful, he said, is to ask the employees nicely and to be friendly.
“The best thing you can do is ask very nicely, ‘Can I have fresh french fries and then I will wait for it.’ If you say that, you know they are trained to pull you off to the side but make a fresh batch,” Haracz said.
If you do order food fresh to order, like the Quarter-pounder he suggested, it’s important to eat it right away because, after 10 to 15 minutes, it will just taste the same as ordering it normally.
Remixing menu items
During his career at McDonald’s, Haracz discovered some fun ways to remix menu items.
He told NewsNation that the folded egg that comes on the breakfast sandwich with the bagel and biscuit is not his personal favorite. Instead, Haracz said he likes to switch out the folded egg for the fresh round egg.
“I do recommend either switching that out to the fresh round aid, which is the egg that comes in an Egg McMuffin that’s freshly cracked in the restaurant. Or if you know somebody and ask really, really nice you can swap that folded egg out for this scrambled egg that’s on their big breakfast,” he said.
Here are a few other menu hacks that Haracz recommends:
- Filet-O-Fish on an Engish muffin with Big Mac sauce
- French fries with burger seasoning
- Quarter pounder with chees on a steamed bun
- Swap need patties on the Big Mac for bacon and tomato to create a BLT
- Do a McChicken sandwich, not a McCrispy sandwich