Invite: McDonald's Open Doors Kitchen Tour
Aha! Finally I'm here with this. Yes, the McDonald's Open Doors Tour is back! If you're lost, the tour was once open to the public for you to better understand how McDonald's function, and of course, to dispel all the untruths you may have heard about the "evils" of this fast food giant.
Fond memories of this place - King Albert Park McDonald's.
(Okay I have my answer. It's McDonald's, not McDonalds'.)
Being a Bt. Timah school student (I used to be from Nanyang Girls' High and Hwachong), how could I not have been here? After school or after school events like Sports' Day and MAF , this would be THE place to hang out and meet new friends. From where else, Chinese High la~~~ LOL!!!
Then I actually mugged for my O'Levels here. And met my good friend of many years. =D
And I am here again~ Reminiscing about the past...nostalgia max...
Reserved for the bloggers and other media~ ^.^
I belong to Team A!
Because it was such a huge group (about 30 people), we had to be divided into 2 groups for the tour.
P.s. Usually the tour would only take about 10 person each time!
Before this tour, I have to admit that I always had doubts about McDonald's foods. Like, how the beef patties are mostly fillers, and their fries being really unhealthy though I love it so much.
Was I wrong....
The very first thing that greeted me - everybody's favourite thing on the McDonald's menu!!!!
FRIES!!!!!!
Mc's uses only 100% vegetable oil, with NO trans fat, and they use ONLY quality Russet Burbank variety potatoes for their fries at EXACTLY 168ºC for about three minutes! (How precise can it get?)
Their fries contain no gluten, wheat, or beef extract flavouring, so what you taste is really just the fries, and the salt (or without if you like!).
What's more, the oil used for frying the fries are automatically changed by their filter system (either that or the staff will change the oil manually). So you can be sure that the oil is not used the WHOLE day or overnight~ No wonder the 11am fries taste the same way as fries you'd get during midnight~ Yum!!!!
*having fries-craving now....*
金黄色的薯条！！！
*salivates~~~*
This is the grilling machine for their meat patties. Unlike the McDonald's game that some of us have played (you do know there is such a game?), McDonald's uses NO ADDITIVES, FILLERS NOR BINDERS for their beef! Only 100% beef. And no oil is added. Just a dash of salt and pepper to bring out its natural, juicy flavour. Plus they work only with parties known to abide by the strictest food safety and quality standards in the industry.
As for their chicken? Ah~ They use only choice cuts from whole-muscle chicken including boneless breast fillet and thigh. And they make sure their chicken comes only from rigorously-inspected sources approved by the AVA, with strictly NO fillers. The same goes for their nuggets - only 100% white chicken meat!
This is the warmer. Food that has been cooked can only be kept for a certain period of time before they are disposed. In each of these labelled warming compartments are the patties, and each kind of patty has their own freshness time limit.
Under this "Medium" sign are food which are not as frequently ordered. There will always be a High, Medium or Low sign to indicate how customer order flow is like, so as to prevent making of excess food and thus leading to wastage.
Little reminders around the kitchen to help the staff adhere to strict quality control.
More fries???
NO!!! These are the Chicken McWings!!!! Same system as the fries - only 100% vegetable oil, changed on a regular basis~
To ensure no wastage, based on experience, these are the numbers of pancakes to make at each hour. We can see from this chart that between 7-9am, the orders for Pancakes are the highest! I almost forgot how it felt to wake up so early for McDonald's breakfast! NICE!!!
Steal recipe!!!
Use what paper to wrap which burger? Got sticker not?
All the "Supreme"s have stickers, why huh? You guys go find out then tell me k? ;)
This the Bacon and Egg McGriddle wrapper!
("Created Just For You" printed on the back, can you see?)
Then at the bottom is my favourite Egg McMuffin's wrapper!
The Egg McMuffin bun! As well as the Big Breakfast bun. I love these on their own. Yup, without the grape jam. YUM!!!!!
(It's 3.5 hours more before McDonald's serve breakfast!!! T.T)
I believe this is for the egg in Egg McMuffin!
OMG the Fillet-O-Fish bread!!!!! My primary school teacher brought me to the factory that supplies these Filet-O-Fish breads to McDonald's, and I FELL IN LOVE with the breads!
Especially when they are fresh out of the oven....the staff have to be careful not to press on the top or there will be fingerprints. Not easy to handle.
Fillets of fish for the Filet-O-Fish™!
McDonald's only uses prime white fish caught from the depths of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Hoki and Alaska Pollock, to be exact. =) While still out at sea, their suppliers use a unique quick-freeze process to seal in the ocean-fresh quality. The fish is then filleted on shore by the fish experts, then frozen, blocked and formed into patties.
O.O Whoa~ Fresh~ It's not my favourite McDonald's burger for nothing! (I'm not a fan of meat.)
The sourdough bread of your Chicken McGrill!!! Mmmm~~~
Okay since we're speaking of buns, did you know that McDonald's has such a high standard of QC, that every single burger that arrives is of the same shape and size? Even the quantity of sesame seeds on the Big Mac are all pretty much the same!!!! *salute*
Thoughtful!
The "Made-For-You" kitchen system. Food is prepared exactly the way you want it, with extra lettuce, no tartar sauce, extra tomatoes, no pickles. Yup, it'll all be reflected here so their staff know exactly what to do with your special order. Because every customer is different, they can customise your burger for you, just the way you like it. =D
There. All the sauces and ingredients for your customization. Lol~
And we head to the McDonald's freezer.
It's -20ºC inside.
This is where we start talking about horror movie storylines, where you get trapped in the freezer and can't come out, and you have to find ways to stay alive and awake until someone opens the door from the outside to save you....
*想太多*
McDonald's freezers can be opened from the inside la! -.-"
Doubt you can get trapped inside even if you wanted to.
So what's kept inside? The perishables of course.
Corn cups! Ooo...eat these with butter....OMG~ Damn sex~~~
Lettuce. Note the expiry. They keep these for less than a week. But usually they finish using them before the week is up. =D Oh btw, McDonald's only uses Iceberg Lettuce from Australia and the U.S for its natural sweet flavour and crispness. Hi, can I have more lettuce please? It's free right? ^.^
OH MY GAWD!!! *weak in the knees* Cinnamon Melts!!!!
Need I say more? I'm not exactly someone with a sweet tooth, but I tried it once and was impressed.
What? You never knew this thing existed??? How could you!?? *guilty myself*
Okay I admit - I have no idea what these Frozen Eggs are used for. McDonald's eggs are freshly cracked and cooked with every McMuffin and Big Breakfast order. And the eggs are washed and sanitised to remove all signs of dirt from the shells, then oiled to seal in freshness of product and to ensure optimum food hygiene.
Fries, Chicken and Beef Patties.
APPLE PIES!!! I WANT A BOX OF THOSE!!!!!
When cooked, how could anyone resist these???
And then we get herded into the warehouse.
There's our tour guide explaining to us their concept of storage of food items- First In, First Out.
Whatever comes first gets used up first. This is to ensure freshness of course!
Who's a fan of this? The Garlic Chilli. Not me. I miss the plain ol' spicy non-garlic chilli sauce that McDonald's once had. Can it come back please? Let us have a choice? The garlic chilli was back by popular demand but the normal chilli could have stayed?
Dehydrated onions? I didn't know such a thing existed!
Cheese for the new Cheese Shaker Fries! OMG I'm in love with these! If you've not tried it, you're losing out MAJOR! Tell u why later!!!
The crew pantry/relax corner. This is where crew find out the latest updates that's happening in the company or the branch, and where they relax and have their meals. Nicely decorated with bright and cheery colours to up crew morale! Me likey!
The who's who. So that new crew can familiarise. We all know how difficult it is when everyone is introduced to you all at the same time - we can never remember who's the first or second guy by the time we get to the 5th person. =P
Every company should have this chart!
Like how schools divide you into houses, they also do that with their crew, so that each crew leader gets to train their members and in turn train themselves for higher up leadership positions. =D
Want to work at McDonald's anyone?
Okay I want to dispel myths that McDonald's pay their staff an hourly less-than-$3 rate. The country's minimum per hourly rate is $4.50. So they don't go lower than that. Rest assured that their crew welfare is *thumbs up*. I've hardly gone to a McDonald's outlet and seen low-morale crew. Almost everyone seems happy working there, from the students to the aunties. =DD
After the tour, McDonald's at KAP spoilt us silly by giving us a continuous flow of food items from their menu!
First up: CORN CUP!!!!
Sweet and juicy and buttery...mmmm~~~~
McNuggets!
And I was talking about this....
How many of you are fans of the snack Super Rings!????
*raises up my own hands and hops to get attention*
The McDonald's fries, coupled with the cheese shaker seasoning, tastes EXACTLY like the Super Rings!!!! Except that it's warm and fresh and crisp and may I say, BETTER!!! So if you like the orange doughnut-y snacks, try the cheese fries!!!!!!
The cinnamon melt. One look at this and you can imagine how it would feel to sink your teeth into this fluffy caramelly treat...pure heaven~
Us enjoying the hospitality bestowed upon us by the friendly fast food giant.
That's me with hot sexy brainy Christine. She's one of the most fascinating females I know, and I look forward to digging her deeper. ;)
Oh yes, as quoted by her in Chrispytinetoo.blogspot.com, "together with Silver, we wolfed down 2 box of nuggets, 1 box of Mcwing, 2 cup corn, 1 M size french fries, 1 Horlick McFlurry, 1 Cinnamon Melt, 1 Fillet O Fish & Big Mac."
She's not kidding. And in case you're wondering how we manage to remain slim (I keep insisting I am not but so many of you say I am so fine I am slim, just not magazine-material enough.), the trick is just to have a sharp heart-shaped face.
No la! I don't eat like that every day! I went home feeling super stuffed and had to prevent myself from bending over the toilet to gorge food out of my oesophagus.
My companion and great-to-talk-to friend, Row. Love her to bits! Don't know why. I think they call it "affinity".
Anyways, 5000 people in Singspore have already gone for the tour since 2009, it's time you register for yours. Find out and see for yourself the honest truths about McDonald's food, and how it's really a whole lot of goodness and responsible marketing.
Conducted between 18 September 2011 - 19 February 2012, in 25 restaurants world-wide, the Open Doors tours will take place every 3rd Sunday of the month. Register for the next one on the 15th October at www.mcdonalds.com.sg/opendoors now!
HavingFriesCravings,
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