Food Service Workers Are Revealing "Dark Secrets" About The Industry That More People Should Know, And It's Seriously Disturbing
We recently wrote a post where food industry workers shared "dark secrets" about their jobs. In the comments, even more employees revealed secrets, and it gets wild. Here are some of the most shocking responses:
Note: Some submissions were pulled from this Reddit thread by u/odysseus-23 and this thread by u/lolzsupbrah.
1."At the last restaurant I worked at, there was no running water, meaning no hand washing. Staff would use the same utensils, without washing, to cook both vegan and non-vegan food. There was no toilet, even for staff. There were ants, maggots, and flies."
"Our ‘freshly cooked’ brownies were frozen brownies from a wholesaler that we cut up and put near the oven to warm up. That said, most of the food was fresh and made with decent ingredients. It was worse for the staff, who had no toilet, had to work 14-hour shifts, and couldn’t get through to the manager on any issue."
2."I've seen dead mice clogging dish sinks, a pipe from the upstairs bathroom toilet dripping onto the flat top grill (manager told me to just scoot all the food to one side and keep cooking), old fish that wouldn't sear properly because it was diseased and chef said, 'Just keep using it" (at a fine-dining restaurant in Seattle), a shard of glass in an ice cream dish that went to a 4-year old because my co-worker was completely inept (chef said, 'He's a warm body; we need him')."
"The things people don't know about restaurant kitchens."
3."It's rare that I get coffee out anymore. As a former barista, too many managers cut corners and didn't clean things properly and would use expired milk, claiming that the steaming process would 'burn away the sourness.' That day's pastries got TOSSED, not donated a lot of the time. Hoppers and air pots hardly cleaned, as well, and that coffee grind dust gets everywhere."
"I was told on several occasions that I was doing it 'wrong' by keeping bleach buckets out, cleaning out everything during closing, rotating products, etc. Nope, I was doing it RIGHT; they were doing it LAZY AND CHEAP. If you get coffee out and get sick, you know why now."
4."My husband’s job requires him to go to many different restaurants and hotels in a few different cities. He’s not a health inspector, but he works for a company that specializes in cleaning chemicals and industrial-sized dishwashers and laundry machines. He’s told me about several places that try to save money and water down their cleaning/sanitizing chemicals."
"Also, I also have a close friend who has a restaurant cleaning business. A popular seafood chain in our city found a giant rat behind some of their equipment a few weeks ago. He said he had never seen a rat that large in his life."
5."I don’t know if it’s just the restaurant that I worked at, but I will never order thick soup at a restaurant now. The dishwashers were always pressured on speed over quality of cleaning, so sometimes the kitchen would get bowls with pieces of old soup still on the inside, and they would still pour new soup in it."
6."The director of the dietary department at a hospital I used to work at told me that ALL professional kitchens have roaches, no matter how clean they are, because they come in from boxes of bananas and other fruits and vegetables."
"I think people would be surprised by the cockroaches. I’ve worked in multiple restaurants over the past four years, all of which have been very clean. Regardless, there’s been cockroaches in every restaurant I’ve worked at."
7."Most restaurants that are 'normal' go-to places consistently get pinged for health code violations, but they always get a warning first and then get told exactly what was wrong and have a period to fix it before it is reported. So, in other words, most of the food code ratings are much higher than an initial inspection would show."
—Anonymous
8."Most of the drinks machinery is cleaned once every two months, and sometimes, they have worms that the employees have to take out manually."
9."I worked at a popular pizza chain. There was black mold growing in the soda fountain. The manager refused to get it cleaned because it was too expensive."
10."Most 'specials' are comprised of components that are days old and need to be used up so they're not thrown out."
"Also, always go out to eat on Thursdays, most restaurants get their food deliveries that day."
11."Restaurant plates and silverware aren't all that clean and they constantly do thing you would think is gross inside the kitchen... This comes from nearly 20 years in the industry."
12."There is no such thing as a catch of the day (fish), and you can dream about a wild one. Although we live on the seaside, they are all farmed, imported, and mostly frozen. If a restaurant buys fresh fish, they will store it and make sure they serve you ones from two or three days ago."
"Fish markets sell a lot of defrosted fish saying they are fresh. If a lobster dies in the tank, they just freeze it and sell it for a little less. I also worked at a fish market and left because I didn't want to kill someone."
13."We sometimes work 9–12 hours straight without any breaks, we eat very little, and almost none of us can afford to rent or buy a house because we get paid minimum wage."
14."I worked at one of the most upscale restaurants in the French Quarter in New Orleans. We would regularly have rats running over my feet in the kitchen. Lots of them."
15."A hotel I work in used frozen pastries. One time, we ran out but found a truly ancient pack at the very bottom of the freezer. Still good to eat, but it had to have been in there at least six months."
"I was a pastry chef at a hotel before COVID. First time I worked in a hotel, I found out my job was essentially reheating and plating frozen desserts. When I talked to them about making desserts from scratch, they said it saved up to 50 cents a pastry to buy it frozen."
"The 'always fresh' stuff is kind of BS. Everything is frozen and reheated when they need to be served. The donuts, the eggs in the breakfast sandwich, and any baked good were all frozen, put in the oven, and then served."
16."Some restaurants wash floor mats in the dishwasher, run it without chemicals, have disgusting machines, etc. Cross-contamination is a big issue."
And finally...
17."I knew the chefs at the place where I worked when I was younger. They said if someone asked for something cooked 'well done' they would get the worst piece of meat, drop it on the floor, and then step on it before cooking it. I lost all respect for them. Pure and simple mongrels."
Fellow food industry workers, what are some other "dark secrets" or wild experiences more people should know? Let us know in the comments below.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
