When we found out that we’ll get a chance to have a private tour of McDonald’s kitchens & get a behind the scene look for our article, we got super excited!
Why? Because McD’s has long been our favourite go-to fast food!
Since last year, McDonald’s has been inviting people into their kitchens to see them behind-the-scenes.
Called McDonald’s Open Doors, the whole experience is essentially you – the fast food fan / eater / lover – going into the kitchens, the pantry (yes, you can even read their notice boards), the freezer & how they cook your beloved burgers in the business of their kitchen!
We heard that all spaces have been booked all of November but fret not – registration will be open for December - January 2012 and you can book your slots then.
In the meantime, here are some of our pictures & offhand information we gathered to satiate your appetite.
Every McDonald’s outlet that participates in Open Doors have their own ambassadors! And one of the Open Door Ambassadors for the King Albert Park outlet is Jane, who’s always armed with an ever-ready smile!
Where we’re standing at here is the storage room. Here’s where all the sauces, cutleries, cups, paper bags are all stored. (yes we heard about the whole curry sauce debacle recently. Too bad this tour was before the whole hoo-hah if not we’ll be able to see it for ourselves hurhur)
She had so much information! Would you believe that all the shelves and storage area are all 6 cm from the ground & 2 inches from the walls? Makes me want to keep my stuffs cleanly organised that way too!
We headed on to the freezer next, where my absolute favourites are kept – McD’s Hotcakes & Scrambled eggs!
It was really cold (as a freezer should be!) & we didn’t take any pictures inside but what we saw was that McD’s scrambled eggs are made from eggs stored in a milk carton box! (means they’re beaten already & are like a formula then really breaking eggs and doing it on the spot). I honestly didn’t know that!
What I really wanted to do was pick up a box of hotcakes and just walk out! Of course for professionalism sake I didn’t & acted cool (pun intended).
We went out from the cold into the hot – the kitchen!
This is where the frozen stuffs become edible stuffs. Everything’s automated. I’m pretty amazed at how much every second is taken into account.
And everyone’s pretty serious about making sure they put together the burgers properly!
When we were there, it was considered off-peak hours but it was still busy. There are different busy indicators, colour coded gloves, labels everywhere & also this customised burger sorter (well, sort of) that I like!
In the kitchen, you get to see your burgers come together. From the breads to the whole packing. You also get to see how nuggets are fried, how the fries are sorted out through a machine & the different timers on each machine pre-calculated for different foods.
(some of the staffs might be camera shy hence, the low caps)
The whole kitchen is like a well-oiled machine. Everything’s labelled, timely & super clean. The whole experience was pretty fun and interesting. What I liked the most was we were able to ask anything about McDonald’s that we’ve always wanted to ask but never got the chance to.
(Like why is the cheese in Fillet-O-Fish smaller, or how do you pick your Happy Meal toys, or what’s the process of picking new things to introduce to McD’s customers… you get my drift)
It’s not just because we’re bloggers / media. During the open doors tour, you too can ask whatever y0u want!
Safe to say, we bid Jane goodbye & left McDonald’s with a happy high feeling (after enjoying some McD’s of course)!
Now if only BK or KFC have allows us into their kitchens… One can hope! 
About McDonald’s Open Doors: Happening at 25 stores around Singapore every 3rd Saturday of the month, the Open Door tours can accommodate 10 people at one time. Registrations are not open yet for next month. To find out more about Open Doors, head to their website or their FB page!
