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Ex-McDonald’s employees reveal the best secret menu hacks

Published Aug 19th, 2015 4:15PM EDT
McDonald's Menu Hacks Tips And Tricks
Image: YouTube / McDonald's

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Want to make your trip to McDonald’s even tastier? Then you should check out some of the tips that former McDonald’s employees have been posting in Quora about what menu hacks to use to get even better food from the Golden Arches.

Be warned that some of these hacks might not work in every McDonald’s franchise. These are just general tips that workers have found to be true where they specifically worked — they won’t necessarily be universal.

Anyway, onto the hacks. This first set of menu hacks comes from Matt Decuir, a man who worked at McDonald’s for two years in Texas. Here are his ideas:

  • “You can put chicken on a side salad. It’s like a dollar, and saves you from eating their behemoth of a salad.”
  • “Some restaurants will let you do it, and some act silly, but I like to Super-size my Fry, but not the drink (especially if I’m eating there). You just have to insist on it.”
  • “Don’t forget your all-american meals. basically happy meals for adults. That’s usually favorable to asking for a Happy Meal Without the toy. (Happy meal toys are expensive; they cost about as much as the happy meal itself).”
  • “Go between 10:30 and 11. They’re transitioning from breakfast to lunch, and you can get a little of both. It’s like brunch for your stomach.”

Chuck Chan, who worked at McDonald’s for almost four years, offers the following advice.

  • “Simply asking for a burger “fresh”, they will make a fresh one, they might warn you it might take an extra 5 minutes to cook fresh meat, especially fried foods will take up to 7 minutes. The workers dont mind much because that means they can take their time making your food and not be as rushed.”
  • “My favorite hack is if you like Big Macs, but don’t want to pay the un-Godly price of up to $4-5 for the sandwich, just order a McDouble, but without ketchup/mustard, with Mac Sauce and lettuce. It will be the same minus the middle bun. Quite the payoff for $1.29 (they might charge you extra for lettuce).”
  • “If you want real eggs on your breakfast sandwiches instead of the liquid stuff, you can put a round egg onto any breakfast sandwich. Just ask for a “round egg” on it (same egg they use on McMuffins).”

And finally, here’s an anonymous McDonald’s employee from the U.K.:

  • “When you buy a hot drink, you can ask for a free refill once. Suppose if you want to buy a promotional hot drink which costs more than £2, then just buy any hot drink (hot chocolate, latte, white coffee) which ever is the cheapest, drink it and then ask them for refill, they will ask you what drink you want, then just say the name of the promotional drink.”
  • “When you buy a breakfast meal, if you buy extra hash brown, there is an option on the till machine called “Uplift Hash Brown”, we are guided to add extra hash brown which costs 70 – 80 pence each, but ethically we should press Uplift Hash Brown which costs 30 pence. So if you are aware, you can ask them that you have bought a meal so you should get extra hash brown for 30 pence.”

These are just some of the McDonald’s menu hacks posted at Quora. To read the rest, check them out here.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.