I work at a Food Court KFC on Front Counter. Ask me anything about my job.
[AMA] KFC Front Counter Worker, Ask Me Anything
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Can confirm this.
even I know that. its once every few weeks. they tell you this stuff if you go to their open day
Oil gets filtered everyday and changed completely either every 21 days or if the oil seems unfit to keep cooking in eg burning smell
Are you sure?
It gets filtered, but they never change the oil, they add to it to replenish the lost oil from cooking.
Yes the oil definitely gets changed.
I used to work at Macca's:
The oil gets topped-up daily (a fair bit is used in the food)
It gets filtered every 2-3 days
It gets changed every 2-3 weeks
If it's quite and the oil isn't used much, it lasts longer.
Generally the oil gets darker and darker until the manager tells you to change it.
Each product (Fries, Nuggets, Apple Pies, etc) has its own vat for cooking (the oils never mix, until they're disposed of).
Fun fact: Macca's used to cook everything in tallow (a hard fatty substance made from rendered animal fat) until the early 2000's when they switched to vegetable fat around the "I'm lovin it" promo time.
until the early 2000's when they switched to vegetable fat
we remember it as the day the fries died, they were never anywhere near as good once the oil changed.
@Homr: Not IMHO. The sweet spot it when the oil is a few days to a week old.
The old oil is full of flavour, smells better and cooks stuff a bit crispier.
The new oil is fresher and lighter, but doesn't impart as much flavour/crispyness.
Personally I preferred the older oil. But the best is about halfway, not new, not old.
Oil in KFC get filtered every day.
and top up every day with the solid oil.
and they got a metal tool place it deep into the oil and find out whether you could see the words on the tool.
if cannot, they might change. or they flush some out, and top up some, then can see again.
I was a cook around 15 years ago when I first left school. We'd empty the vats every night into a machine that would process the oil and then pump it back in. The stuff that gets removed is used to make the gravy. No kidding.
Oil is drained into filtering machine, entire fryer cleaned then oil pumped back in, along with new oil to top it up. Depends entirely on store (and how lazy staff are) how often this is done.
in a 10 piece box, can i request good/breast pieces?
Unlikely you could get all 10 pieces as breasts, but it's up to the store. Unless the store is out of breast pieces you shouldn't have trouble getting 5 breast and 5 something else.
5 breast pieces out of 10 is quite generous. Store Policy is technically two but doesnt hurt to ask, if available, 3-4 should be given most times.
My local store allows at most 3.
can i get 10 drum sticks
Can you swap out the bread for something good?
Is there any KFC hacks we should know about?
Whats the most annoying thing people order (hardest to deal with or make?)
Have you had any super weird or odd orders?
Whats your favourite piece of chicken from the Colonel Sanders range?I think you mean the dinner rolls? Yes you can swap it out for any other side, but you'll have to pay more.
There is a $2 menu which has Regular Chips, Snack Popcorn, Potato & Gravy, 375ml Cans/Water, 2 Wicked Wings and more on it. It is technically for addons but if you ask for it you shouldn't have any problems. Also, sometimes when there are promos you can save the order to favourites on the app and continue ordering it after the promo is over. Only works sometimes if IT don't remove it properly
When people ask for a burger with only one or two ingredients. There's no option for that so you have to remove each item individually. Also when people have stacks of change
Not really, sometimes people go crazy on the addons, 50x extra salt, 50x sauce etc.
original tenders, only with supercharged sauce
Thanks mate
In app you can swap out a dinner roll any other reg side for free.
Why is it that I go to maccas and they all sprint round frantically working, but I go to KFC and they don't have a care in the world whilst moving at a snails pace? I don't have an issue with it, I just find it amusing every time I go.
I haven't really noticed what you're talking about but probably to do with the training
I notice it. It is the same at every store. I guess it is the training.
But when you want kfc you want kfc and waiting a while for it is a small price to pay :)
This is so true. I used to work at maccas and when ever I go to KFC it's feels like they don't give a sh*t about how long they take. Sometimes they literally have to do is put the damn chicken in the box and give it to me.
@ScuseMe: I've been in stores where I've seen my order made (burger only) and sitting there waiting for someone to put it in a bag and they still take their time standing around doing nothing.
More to do with how stores are set out. Most maccas have their drink machines, burger stations and chip stations all in different areas. KFC typically has it all right next to each other.
As far as i know Maccas has a 3min drive through rule and they have rating displayed on monitors how quick they are serving their orders
I think manager might have KPI's on speed so they are constantly behind their staff asses
Worked there, KFC's training guide is supposed to be one minute from order to finish, but they're slow.
You must go to an exceptional McDonalds; no matter how much sprinting they do the food still takes it's time, and this with removal of that time hog, CYT.
Why do you always forget the sauces? 50% of the time you forget something in the order. Don't you have to read the screen and check what you put in the bag and then give the correct order to customer.
I think our store is pretty good. We have a screen that tells us everything to put in there so it is hard to forget things.
That's what I mean. There's a screen and at least 1 in very 5 or more times the front of house forget something.
Have you tried complaining about it to the manager? Our policy on complaints is to always offer extra so you'll probably get some free stuff out of it.
@realfancyman: Started having to check before I left the store. No use complaining after you get home and realise something missing. I had complained once and had a call from a manager. Don't think it changed anything.
I'm sure you check things. Not hard to do.
@realfancyman: Literally every single time they get something wrong at my local. One time I complained and they gave me a credit of a family meal of some sort. They (profanity) THAT up too! I would think if someone comes in with a credit note, they would make extra sure they got it right. They legit just don't seem to give a (profanity).
I've taken to just complaining every time they get it wrong now, otherwise they'll never learn.
@Hardicus: I've got at least 4 boxed meal ctedits from their stuff ups in my email that I cbf redeeming. My work has had so many wrong orders the local store gifted us 11 boxed meals one afternoon to make up for it.
@Hardicus: I usually claim every 5 times they stuff up my order and get about $20-$40 credit each time.
The last time we ordered 10 original receipes , we got like 2 breasts, 6 wings(fking tiny as) 2 thighs and no legs… was quite upsetting.so the next time they mess my order up I'll complain.
Pretty sure ur supposed to give ratio to diff kinds of chicken pieces.
Why do you always forget the sauces? 50% of the time you forget something in the order.
at least 1 in very 5 or more times the front of house forget something.
So is it 100, 50 or 20 %? Your estimated probability keeps decreasing.
@Scrooge McDuck: Ahaha I thought I was the only one who noticed.
Also amusing how the "1 in every 5 or more times" is phrased… I get what he means but sounds like most of the time it's less than 20%.
Can we, and is it rude to request freshly fried chicken?
They're not FFC
Why would you do that? All the chicken is fresh, otherwise they have to throw it out after one hour. Also original recipe takes 12:45 minutes to cook so you'd be waiting a lot.
12:45 minutes?? I guess I’m old now.
Back in my days, it required 15 minutes to cook 6 head original chicken.
Prep took about 5-7 minutes from memory.
Took the chicks out of the cooker, let the excess oil drips for another 1-2 minutesSo the fastest i could deliver from raw chicken to the counter table was about 25ish minutes
I'm guessing it's like McDonalds and there is 0 prep time because it's all fried directly from the prepared packs in the freezer.
One and a half hours. :)
What's stopping them from doing what other fast food places do and just keep it longer?
No you can't request this.
Sure you can. Doesn't mean it will be fulfilled though.
You can definitely ask to please wait for fresh food to be cooked.
The store near me always sells very old dried out chicken where you can clearly see that the timers have expired. They just don't care. The Area Manager told me that I can definitely ask for fresh food to be cooked.
Ex-shift supervisor here, you can definitely request it, especially if you have a large order, but generally the hold times are adhered to (or at least should be) and the chicken should be fresh regardless. One thing you definitely can request is fresh chips, as far as I was aware at the time we were obliged to fulfil that request.
Depends on store and how many trays they already have cooked… It's a 12+ minute wait though… You will look a bit like a douche.
Fck I love KFC. Ignore all the haters. There is nothing better than KFC. Or that horse that died at Melbourne Cup and I had as lasagne. KFC still way better. Popcorn chicken for the win!
R u single?
What a interesting thread…
aan
I often order from the app and make changes to the meals, such as from 3 wings to 1 original piece. Half of the time, there's something wrong with that order. Is it really that difficult for the employee to follow what is on the order screen?
Yep same here. The flexibility in the app is great but the stores don't seem to know how to handle it.
It really comes down to the store. Our store is pretty good with these things
Whens the next open kitchen day so that I can pretend that I didn't know you have 2 handles on your fridge (one for raw, one for cooked) whilst I wait for my free meal…
Probably same as last year but not sure
Whatever happened to the Chicken & Wicked Wings Pack(10 pieces of chicken, 10 wicked wings + 3 sides) for $25.95?
This what I mostly ordered and now it's not on the app…
And The Colonel hasn't provided another equivalent pack, there's the "Build Your Own Bucket" but the cost is much more expensive for the amount of chicken and sides.I know we're trying to sell less wicked wings because there is low supply at the moment. Could be why
Thank you for replying and taking your time to do an AMA, I really appreciate it.
When are the boneless fillets coming back?
You mean the ones that go in the burgers? We have those
They had boneless OR a few years back, the pieces were tiny.
Boneless OR are now the "chicken strips". They are coated in OR.
@fatal: My understanding was it was actually de-boned OR pieces, not tenderloins.
Also shame they went from the cripsy strips to coating in the OR coating, a lot more salty now.
you can still get the original fillets box on the app
With all the unhealthy food you get to eat, do you get free health cover and free gym memberships?
No
They’re not being forced to eat it? So it’s up to self-control and moderation.
From your old posts, I think you are an IT geek. Are you working in IT area after work?
I'm 15 so not working in the area yet. I'm studying a cert 3 at TAFE in IT currently and will be starting cert 4 next year
Are you still at school or do you work at KFC fulltime?
Either way, good on you for having a crack and working to earn yourself a wage. I have a 15 year old brother and I'm pretty sure he thinks Manual Labour is an exchange student at his school.Still at school. I go to TAFE on Thursday's and work after school or on the weekends.
@Conka: Adding to this KFC is very good at baiting staff in to working their way to manager with promises of head office gigs. I have seen it happen to two people and it never goes anywhere once they reach store manager.
@realfancyman: Why do you go to tafe when you are still at school? Isn't school curriculum enough?
How do you balance your social life with school + tafe + work?
@Homr: Because I want a head start.
I don't focus on school, it's not for people like me that know what they want to do. I do the minimum there to keep everyone happy and focus on what's going to help me in life.
@realfancyman: If you're good at self study, you can "drop out" after year 10 and do full time Tafe. Do up to diploma or advanced diploma. You can then land a job in IT and pursue a shortened uni degree either full/time or part time.
@follow: I was actually offered an exemption from school to drop out this year but took another option. I'm doing hybrid year 10 year 11 next year and some self directed community learning which will get me a lot of sace points, plus my TAFE course will give me enough sace points to leave school at year 11 with my full sace
@realfancyman: Good stuff, you are 100% correct that school is not for everyone. I too believe that the school system is flawed
Why is it the majority of staff are absolutely hopeless at reading an order properly? I hate potato and gravy so I always swap it out for an extra regular chips but the amount of times I either get just one regular chips is insane! I always order and pay through the app as well, why is it when I check in my order the staff can't see I've already paid?
This sounds like a common complaint, it really comes down to the store. The screens make it very clear how to pack the order, and items that have been changed are highlighted in red
Is it possible to purchase bags of frozen popcorn chicken or normal chicken pieces ?. or not possible because made fresh each day ?
I worked a few years at KFC back in my younger days so I have a go answering. If I remember correctly, the popcorn chicken is stored frozen in a bag before deep fried. Normal chicken pieces are delivered every day and stored in the fridge until marinated and cooked. You can try and buy a bag of frozen popcorn chicken, im sure you can buy anything for the right amount of money
When is hot and spicy coming back….I know some stores have them all year round.
Our store doesn't have hot and spicy at all unfortunately
Come to WA, we always have hot and spicy.
QLD stores and one in Victoria have hot & spicy all year round
which store in Victoria?
type of oil?