Fast Food Cooks
Prepare and cook a restricted range of foods in fast food establishments.
Friday night on the grill
You are a fast food cook on the grill and fryer station at a highway restaurant on a busy Friday night. It is 6pm. The drive-through queue is full, the screen shows twelve orders and the manager is covering a gap at the front counter.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
A customer has brought a burger back and says the middle is cold. I did not see it come out. They want a new one now, and the line is long. Can you just reheat it?
Remake it fresh and check the grill timer for the batch
You cook a new patty and it takes three minutes. The customer is happy, and when you check the timer you notice the grill needs to be reset. A returned burger can be a clue about the equipment.
Put it back on the grill for a minute and hand it back
The outside gets hot but the customer finds it dry and still not right. Mika has to apologise again, and the line behind slows. Reheating a returned burger is not the same as cooking a fresh one.
Remake it fresh but tell Mika not to mention it to the manager
The customer is happy, but the grill problem is never reported and another burger comes back an hour later. Fixing one order is good, but a pattern is something the manager needs to know.
My mates are coming through the drive-through in five minutes. Can you chuck an extra large fries in their bag? Nobody will notice, and the oil is full of them anyway.
Say you'd rather not, and tell him you'll make his mates a good order at full price
Zak is a bit annoyed, but he understands. His mates are served properly. It's fine to say no, though a sentence about why would help Zak understand the rule.
Say no, because stock is tracked and free food gets you in trouble
Zak shrugs and says fair enough. His mates are served normally. You've saved both of you from a conversation with the manager.
Do it just this once, and make sure it's a small serve
The manager sees the stock count off at the end of the night and asks who was on the fryer. You and Zak both end up in a serious talk. A small favour is still a problem when it's against the rules.
There is oil on the floor by the fryer from the last basket. I can see it from here. Are you able to sort that out before someone slips? I'm on the counter and can't leave.
Cover it with paper towels and get on with the cooking
The paper helps a little, but the floor stays slick and Ellie has to mop later anyway. A small step in the right direction isn't a full clean.
Ignore it until the rush ends, because the orders are stacking up
A crew member carrying a tray hits the spill and goes down. Nobody is badly hurt, but the tray is lost and the rush stalls. An oil spill is a hazard the moment you see it.
Put a mop and a wet floor sign out, then clean it properly
The sign goes down first, and the spill is cleaned in a minute. A crew member nearly walks through but sees the sign. Warning people comes before the cleaning.
How it went
The last order goes out, the grill is scraped clean and your feet ache. Fast food cooking is about speed, routine and small habits that keep the food safe when everything is loud and hot. Do you think you'd enjoy working at pace in a team?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The tray that sat too long
A fictional case set in a busy highway burger and chicken restaurant with a drive-through window and a kitchen that never stops on a Friday night.
The situation
On a busy Sunday at a highway burger place, Jordan was on the grill when the drive-through suddenly slowed and the dining room filled with a coach tour. Cooked chicken pieces had been sitting in the warmer under the heat lamp for longer than the timer allowed, because the orders had stopped for ten minutes. Throwing them out would leave the next rush short, and the shift manager was at the front counter dealing with the coach party.
What they did
Jordan checked the timer, saw that it had run out and put the tray in the waste bin. He told the manager, Ellie, that the warmer was empty and that a fresh batch would take a few minutes. Ellie moved a couple of orders to a later slot and told the front counter to explain the short wait. Jordan started a new batch straight away and wrote the discard in the log.
How it turned out
The coach party waited a few extra minutes and nobody complained. Ellie told the team that the timer exists so staff do not have to guess in the middle of a rush. Jordan was a bit worried about wasted food, but the owner told him the log showed the system working.
What would you do?
- Would you have thrown the food out knowing you might be short?
- How do timers and logs help when the kitchen is under pressure?
- How would you explain a wait to someone who is hungry and impatient?