Interesting call for an out-of-temp walk in. Do not read if you have a weak stomach...

There are foul things going on in many restaurant kitchens, not just fast food franchises. My very first job at age 15 was working as a busboy at a very upscale hotel on the Northern Calif Coast near where I lived. When the county health dept inspector came for a visit, he never even set foot in the kitchen. Instead, he sat at the bar, and had a drink or two on the house and signed off the inspection.

Since there was no municipal sewer system the hotel had a septic system. Since the septic system was prone to backups, there were wooden slats over the kitchen floor, so when the drains backed up the grey water stayed under the slats.

And in the walk in the salad dressings were kept in 5 gal. crocks. When I worked I always covered them with saran wrap at the end of my shifts. But during the week days the staff was careless, and they went into the walk in uncovered. One Friday afternoon shortly after I started working there, I went into the walk in to get the salad dressings and other salad supplies to begin setting up, as it was my job to make all the salads. What I saw nearly made me hurl. On the top of the uncovered Thousand Island, French and Blue Cheese dressings were serveral black flies, some still flapping their wings and in the surface of the Italian dressing was covered with fruit flies. I asked the manager where he wanted me to throw them all out as they were contaminated? He practically choked! Throw them out he said, are you crazy! Just take the flies off the top and stir any remaining fruit flies back into the Italian. If anyone asks what the specks are, tell them its� cracked black peeper! Let me tell you, after that I never ate salad there again!

My brother also worked in restaurants during the 70�s as a cook, and he saw many similar things. At one seafood restaurant he worked at he was called out for wasting time by opening the plastic bag of clam strips before dropping them into the deep fryer. The head Chef instead showed him how to just dip the bottom of the plastic bag into the hot grease and hold it there until it melted off and let the frozen clam strips slide into the fryer! At another the head chef used to just use his hand and arm to stir the salad dressings in the 5 gal crocks,and then take his other hand and wipe the thick salad dressing from his arm and hand back into the crock, WTF! Joe got fired for there for telling the guy that what he was doing was unsanitary and illegal.

Now I know there are some kitchens that are run in a sano way, but trust me, if you want to be able to enjoy your meal out, DON�T go into the kitchen, you may not be happy with what you see.

Eddie

This post was last edited 09/30/2018 at 21:31


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Post# 1009006 9/29/2018 at 16:46 (2,033 days old) by superocd (PNW)
Checkrate/Likes 2 A nationwide fast food chicken joint which shall remain unnamed had a recent health inspection which noted flies and offensive odors near the walk in cooler, compounded with its inability of maintaining temp. I checked the condenser unit (which looked cobbled together, literally a piece of sheetmetal bent into a makeshift open-ended shroud, draped over the components). The condenser was FULL of expired birds, mice, etc. Maggots and flies. So that's where the smell originated. That health inspector was NOT lying about an offensive odor! Evidently this was a problem for a long time coming because I was pulling out everything from skeletal remains to dried up, mummified corpses to "fresh kills", except they were not so fresh because of the heat, so they were being cooked. I guess at some point the "body count" built up to the point that the fan could not turn. Disgusting! I asked the manager of the place if there has ever been any PM done. He started working there two weeks ago and didn't know he had to do any PM on a walk in freezer. What??? Did he seriously think it would magically run forever somehow? After cleaning out the deceased creatures and replacing the condenser fan motor, I suggested one of two things: either add this thing to your PM checklist for a weekly basis and get up there with a ladder to check it or better yet, let us construct a more appropriate shroud to keep out the pests AND add the condenser to your PM. I stressed to him that it was important to look after his equipment not only for the potential expense and trouble of losing food and having to spend thousands on repairs or replacement of his equipment, but for the fact that it was going to jeopardize the future health inspections of his store and possibly his job. He looked at me like I criticized him deeply but I was just telling it like it was. I gave him a quote for a better shroud for the condenser the next day, one that is sufficiently ventilated but totally closed off from any rodents or birds. The teenaged-looking manager said he'd pass that on to the franchisee. Why do I get the feeling that he will not take me seriously? I will be surprised if we get a call from him or the franchise owner to go ahead and replace the shroud.

Post# 1009010 , Reply# 1 9/29/2018 at 17:44 (2,033 days old) by turbokinetic (Northport, Alabama USA)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *Yet another reason....* ....that I don't eat fast food! Glad you did the right thing, though, and called him out about it and proposed a solution.

Post# 1009017 , Reply# 2 9/29/2018 at 18:28 (2,033 days old) by RP2813 (Sannazay)
Checkrate/Likes 1 I don't think it's difficult to figure out which chain this is. I haven't set foot in one for a long time due to poor management, which seems to be the situation at all of their franchises. I agree that your recommendations will likely never reach the franchisee, and on the outside chance that they do, they will not be followed.

Post# 1009029 , Reply# 3 9/29/2018 at 20:51 (2,033 days old) by superocd (PNW)
Checkrate/Likes 1 I even offered to show the kid manager what he had to do until they fixed the root cause (eliminate a nesting place in the condensing unit with a proper shroud/enclosure). He claimed that he was busy and that he'd figure it out when he had time. Before I left, I just said that I came here, fixed your problem and it's up to you to make sure it doesn't happen again. I also told him that it was a pretty straightforward procedure to make sure nothing got up in there until they got a proper enclosure put around the condensing unit, if they ever choose to do so. I wasn't convinced that they were going to jump into action on getting a proper enclosure fabbed for their condenser when I dropped off a quote the next day. The manager sounded unsure about the franchisee approving the work. We quoted $535 for the job, including installation, and it would be fabbed in house by our sheetmetal guys. I'm guessing that a hack replaced the original condensing unit with something scraped together with spare parts. The disconnect for this condenser was screwed onto the cabinet of a nearby RTU with about 10 feet of BX running from the disconnect to the condenser. More $ for us, I guess.

Post# 1009050 , Reply# 4 9/29/2018 at 22:44 (2,033 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)
Checkrate/Likes 2 This sounds like the establishment being run the way it is & how it has, may have to be closed for a while... Something like this surely if it would have been in the parameters of the department of health & wellbeing, or even at least within the directives of whatever management owns this franchise, could have seen to it that even equipment like this merely just on the roof deck, if it is still used for operations within the structure, gets this sort of attention, that's merely just preventative-maintenance, then anyone would have taken better & the more immediate action to get this sort of thing done, if not prevent it from getting as far out of hand as you've described... I pray that the public had in those times had never gotten sick or died from eating there under those impending conditions... And lastly, I do not at all feel weak in my stomach, as much as I feel truly sorry for those poor animals... -- Dave

Post# 1009136 , Reply# 5 9/30/2018 at 10:30 (2,033 days old) by Tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)
Checkrate/Likes 2 A friend of my brother worked in a KFC and told of how a bowl of potato salad fell off the counter during the mixing and the manager said to scoop it up off the floor and put it back into the bowl. She said that she would not eat the food if it were free.

Post# 1009150 , Reply# 6 9/30/2018 at 12:22 (2,033 days old) by kd12 (Arkansas)
Checkrate/Likes 1 I haven't eaten at a KFC since the late 70s. Couldn't stand them in those days either.

Post# 1009191 , Reply# 7 9/30/2018 at 17:38 (2,032 days old) by fan-of-fans (Florida)
Checkrate/Likes 1 I was eating at a fast food place recently when a repairman was there. I saw a Hobart service van outside. He was telling the manager how they need to get their breaker panel relabeled and how many of them were mislabeled. He said if they had a fire they'd have no idea how to shut off the equipment. The manager just rudely said "we just passed our fire inspection, we aren't in charge of the building." As to KFC I do like them from time to time. The second to last time I went, the manager took my order and seemed totally inept. He seemed like a rapper that decided to become a KFC manager. He started off by saying "Welcome to my KFC." I thought, "YOUR KFC?" The last time I ate at KFC, the chicken tasted totally off, just terrible. How do you get your main item wrong? I haven't been back since.

Post# 1009197 , Reply# 8 9/30/2018 at 18:04 (2,032 days old) by ea56 (Cotati, Calif.)
Checkrate/Likes There are foul things going on in many restaurant kitchens, not just fast food franchises. My very first job at age 15 was working as a busboy at a very upscale hotel on the Northern Calif Coast near where I lived. When the county health dept inspector came for a visit, he never even set foot in the kitchen. Instead, he sat at the bar, and had a drink or two on the house and signed off the inspection. Since there was no municipal sewer system the hotel had a septic system. Since the septic system was prone to backups, there were wooden slats over the kitchen floor, so when the drains backed up the grey water stayed under the slats. And in the walk in the salad dressings were kept in 5 gal. crocks. When I worked I always covered them with saran wrap at the end of my shifts. But during the week days the staff was careless, and they went into the walk in uncovered. One Friday afternoon shortly after I started working there, I went into the walk in to get the salad dressings and other salad supplies to begin setting up, as it was my job to make all the salads. What I saw nearly made me hurl. On the top of the uncovered Thousand Island, French and Blue Cheese dressings were serveral black flies, some still flapping their wings and in the surface of the Italian dressing was covered with fruit flies. I asked the manager where he wanted me to throw them all out as they were contaminated? He practically choked! Throw them out he said, are you crazy! Just take the flies off the top and stir any remaining fruit flies back into the Italian. If anyone asks what the specks are, tell them its� cracked black peeper! Let me tell you, after that I never ate salad there again! My brother also worked in restaurants during the 70�s as a cook, and he saw many similar things. At one seafood restaurant he worked at he was called out for wasting time by opening the plastic bag of clam strips before dropping them into the deep fryer. The head Chef instead showed him how to just dip the bottom of the plastic bag into the hot grease and hold it there until it melted off and let the frozen clam strips slide into the fryer! At another the head chef used to just use his hand and arm to stir the salad dressings in the 5 gal crocks,and then take his other hand and wipe the thick salad dressing from his arm and hand back into the crock, WTF! Joe got fired for there for telling the guy that what he was doing was unsanitary and illegal. Now I know there are some kitchens that are run in a sano way, but trust me, if you want to be able to enjoy your meal out, DON�T go into the kitchen, you may not be happy with what you see. Eddie This post was last edited 09/30/2018 at 21:31

Post# 1009240 , Reply# 10 10/1/2018 at 00:47 (2,032 days old) by toploader55 (Massachusetts Sand Bar, Cape Cod)
Checkrate/Likes Best way to find out what restaurants have a clean kitchen is to ask a Delivery Driver. Whether it be a Grocery, Produce, Seafood Purveyor or even Beer, Wine, Liquor Drivers. I always make sure the floor is swept and clean as they are guiding their hand trucks and looking at the floor. But they do see everything. And many go into walk in coolers as well. And of course Service Techs.

Post# 1009290 , Reply# 11 10/1/2018 at 18:20 (2,031 days old) by ozzie908 (Lincoln UK)
Checkrate/Likes *Eww anyone see 911* The chap with the interesting upset gut from eating sushi? Can't say as I have seen a tapeworm before but after watching the above can't say I want to either :) Austin

Post# 1009238 , Reply# 9 10/1/2018 at 00:29 (2,032 days old) by tolivac (greenville nc)
Checkrate/Likes One fellow I knew ate at KFC and was sick for two weeks laid up in the hospital with severe food poisoning.