Does it really "ding" when fries are done?

Haha we have timers for all of our products and they "beep" until we hit the button

I work at a bk and I have always been curious about the pay of a general manager, how much do you make every paycheck?

I get paid more then the avg GM (the avg GM would get 30-35k a year) and I'm sitting at 65k a year because how well my store is doing... The better than gp(gross profit) is for the owner the more money I get so I have to work hard and make sure my employees are not stealing or throwing away alot of food. And i keep an eye on how much money a day is going into labor.

Edit: and I'm on my way to be an operations manager and will be around 100k a year(not trying to brag)

Holy crud that is ridiculous. Where is your bk?

In the NW :p

Congrats and good luck :)

Thanks alot!

Will you get in trouble for doing this AMA? I've worked in fast food chains (taco bell) they are super anal about their public image

It is a possibility but I signed no pieces of paper saying I wouldn't (they implemented that after I was a GM haha)

Have you ever had to fire someone that you didn't think should be fired?

Yes I have actually...the owners didn't really like the man and told me to fire him..I didn't want to but I do what I'm told...there was also one time that someone living in some apartments behind burger King complaind about one of my "regular" customers smoking near the trash cans... needless to say those people called the big guys and told me to 86 him from the store

I don't understand half of this comment

I had to fire someone I did not want to and I had to 86 a customer from my store that I also did not want to do

When is the best time to order from drive thru, to insure the food is freshest? Busy time or slow time?

Well at my store it would be both because when we are busy we are always cooking more food and when we slow down we cook it fresh just so the customer always gets nice hot food :) (nnot all stores will do this because of the "drive times" they want to meet but I like hot food so they get hot fresh food all the time)

When you started from the bottom did you ever think you'd stick around long enough to be an Operations Manager? I'm sure turnover is pretty high in the industry as the job is considered less than ideal.

To be honest I just wanted a part time job to help with school. I never thought I would be here today (OMG you work at fast food) but it was well worth it in the end..it pays well

Do you know where you get your meat?

All of our food comes from "FSA"

I believe that stands for "Food Services of America". www.fsafood.com

That would be correct :)

Do any fast food places (aside from checkers here in florida) actually cook their burgers on site?

Like making a paty from scratch? No lol but all places have raw meat they cook in store

I'm about to head to BK myself. Any secret menu items?

No not really but you should. Make a sandwich that is super custom and see how they do

What are your ordering and receiving procedures? Do you have any leeway in customizing menu items that aren't on the menu as "manager's specials?" If you "had it your way" what would be the first thing you changed in your store? What is the biggest trump card Burger King has over its competitors in your opinion?

I order all of the stores needs from the supplier from an online order form.

I do have somewhat of a leeway...i can change the menu items to other items we offer, but nothing "ccustom" I can also change digital menu boards in the store.

Well it is my store so I can have it my way :p but to be honest I got the newest store and the only thing I can think of is changing how we have to train people.

Biggest trump card? Come into bk and order anything realistic and we will make it...aa lot of people tell me they never thought of ordering custom things because it's "nnot on the menu"

Like what?

I've had people order quesadillas, shredded chicken bbq sandwich, grilled cheese sandwich, ham and cheese(before they released the "yumbo") beef salads, root beer floats(pretty much any float including an icee float... Sooo good lol) chicken nugget sandwich, ham dipped in bbq heated up and put on long bun with cheese and onion rings(really good) a bk version of a" mc.dank".. And bags of ice(10 lbs for 1.59 btw) and Prolly more I can't remember.. :)

What sort of hours do you work?

Any good "crazy customer" stories?

I am required to work a min am most of 50 hours a week...I usually work around 60+ I have so many crazy customer stories but I'll keep it short...

I have a "regular" crazy customer that we call the "fish lady" because that's what she always buys...iI still remember her first order... she ordered a number 10 meal small and we were cooking everything fresh for her. ( was later on the night) foods done and I take it out to the table and walk back to the kitchen area and I heAR her screaming like a madman and she runs up to the counter and throws the tray with all of the food on it and said she didn't want her Bun toasted (sshe didn't btw) so I made her new items with a Non toasted bun...she comes in 2-4 times a week and I always regret when "tthe new girl" or people that don't no know take her order....eends up the same way.away.as the first time lol

2 It was st. Patrick's day (need I say more?) And a guy comes thru dt (oobviously plastered) and sits there waiting to order (ffor 5 min) and then decides on 4 turkey burgers comes to the window and spends another few minutes searching in his wallet for money.. pays and he is on his way..20 minutes go by and he comes running in with a gun and said he didn't want any onions (hhe never said anything bout onions btw) I tried to calm him down as an employee of mine called the cops...ccops got there and he dropped the gun but started to fight the cops and got maced and tazed...need less to say I shut down for the night lol

Do you work mostly daytime hours or do you have to be there for the night shift? (I'm assuming your BK is open 24 or at least most of the day)

It is crazy how nuts people get over fast food! Fish lady sounds cringeworthy but onionguns is really scary O.o Have you ever called the police on someone in the DT who is obviously too impaired to drive?

I open the store twice a week the rest are "mids" and i close atleast once a month to make sure my other managers are doing their job and no its not 24 hours we open at 6am (have to be there at 5 to set up) and close at 2am(have to stay late to do cleaning and managers need to do paperwork) Onionguns haha that's good... And it was pretty damn scary having a gun pointed at you.... I have called the police a few times when it's really bad (I would make sure the food took forever for the police to get there) one time a woman had a 5 year old? In the front seat chilling and a bottle of vodka in the center console... I didn't even hesitate on that one Edit: on a really rough night I've seen my managers leave around 3am

I have had a few drunk guys walk in and they stole our cookies from the display. Idk about you but I wasn't about to chase down three burly men for a few cookies.

Honest side note: our value menu can sometimes attract strange customers.

Lol some drunk lady tried to take one of our menus that are on a stand in the entry way haha

Ok ok so one time I had to walk into the bathroom because my assistant manager noticed that people had been in the restroom too long.

I walk in and I saw a guy who looked like a tweaker but he was washing his hands so I thought nothing of it. He did talk to me in a worried manner though. I then turn to my right to see a woman in the men's restroom and I freaked out. I told her to get out and she did. The guy got defensive and told me that she was in here to be safe with him. I kicked him out too. I then went to the stall and saw that they had left behind some makeshift tools they used to shoot up some sort of drug.

Tbh the thing I hate the most about my store are the junkies. I have another sketch story about a junky.

I have found needles hidden behind the toilet seat covers and spoons and crack pipes one time a bag of "rocks" called the police every time and they tested it right there and they all came out positive for some bad drugs lol... (I do get the occasional insulin needle I the garbage aswell

What would you do if Humpty (pronounced with an "Umpty") came in and got busy in the bathroom?

I would peep Through the Looking Glass and tell em to leave?

You must not know then...http://youtu.be/cj9_yW8tZxs

No I did not haha.. I might join in if I diddnt think they were crazy

You ever have a customer come in so hungry its scary? They stagger over and you help them up onto the counter, remove their shirt, and put your BK ordained stethescope up to their beer gut... listening... To the standby "scalpel, burger". They hand it over. Quick. Efficient. Like cogs in a machine. But the burger wont go down. It's too dry. It's not enough. Oh damn if only this was in-n-out.

You scream at the staff like "I need 20ccs of fucking ketchup now or were going to lose this customer!" Pumping on their stomach. CPR. Pleading: "Dont you fucking growl on me you son of a bitch. Customer be all like "Im so hungry... so cold"

"Where the fuck is that ketchup!? God damnit!" Standby whimpers "were all out" "How the fuck are we out of ketchup?!"

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. Flatline. Or are the fries just done? No way to tell... but this guy is dead fasho. You hang your head, a hero defeated by death itself. Another customer lost... they should have gone to Chik-fil-a.

Typical day?

Omg you made my day! Some one give this guy gold!

Do you guys still sell Frozen Cokes? That used to be my go to reason for going to Burger King but now every time I go I can never get one. Multiple Burger King's will be "out" in the middle of the day? It got me wondering if it's just an involved process they don't want to deal with or are they just not a thing anymore and no one will tell me...

Well I'm pretty sure that the burger kings you visit must have old machines where it will run it defrost mode randomly (causing them to be "out") but my burger King is new and so is the icee machine that's never out because it does the defrost during slow times of the day (and btw bk has a contract with coke to sell the coke ice but the other two flavors are optional)

Is it just like a coke slurpee?

Basically... Icee is the brand :)

how old are you and how old are those girls in the first picture?

I am 22 and they are about the same age as me and that pic was a year ago during a business trip to Seattle( corporate made us go) ... They were assistant managers on their way to general managers from other stores and we got along and decided to be funny :p

nice, i am in seattle . what ya'll do for fun here? did you take part in any of our recently legalalized natural resources?

Fun? Not much lol my friend bought a car and had it delivered to the regal theater smack dab downtown thought that was cool (that's where the meeting was) before we left the big Boss man told us we are a non drinking company but later that night he comes up the stairs of the hotel with four cases of Corona (insert brown joke here) i thought it was hilarious we all drank on the balcony of the hotel overlooking the suzuki bike store and one of our guys got in a fight with a bum for touching one of our girls inappropriately... Was alot of fun :)

Burger King by me NEVER and I do mean never gets orders right. People don't get straws with drinks or napkins. Ever. Not ever. I don't even bother complaining anymore because it never changes, and I'm not the only one this happens to. How can I just get the meal I ordered, with a straw and napkin, without having to ask several times or get a manager involved?

That's sad.. It's not hard to do their job.. I'm sorry it keeps happening to you (and Prolly many others) but if I were you I would do the survey on the recipt you get and complain (they take these complaints seriously) and the GM of the store will be forced to do something about it for the future :)

I didn't see this question, what exactly IS an operations manager and how does it differ from a GM?

Also, any advice on opening a franchise like this? I've always considered doing it but I've never known where to even start or how to choose a location, etc

A GM is a in store manager that takes care of the one store... A district overseas the GMs on a larger scale (more than one bk) and an operations manager (right hand man) takes care of the business aspect.. Advertising, big store changes, ect Open a franchise? I would advise you to have a lot of money because it is expensive.. And take your time highering your upper management

Do you make decent money?

If I must be honest I make $65k a year

65k isn't bad when you figure an account manager for coca-cola here on the east coast makes about 50k.

I was amazed when I got my first check..the owner told me I'll be up near 100k as an operation manager

Congrats. I didn't think it would pay so well

Thank you!

Holy cow. Are you corporation or franchised? I don't think my gm makes that much

We are a franchise that has MANY bks and a GM will start out between 30-35k

How do you feel about competitors to Burger King, like McDonalds and KFC?

I have some people "on the inside" at other fast food and I'm told how many sales they make around here and I can say that the burger kings around here are killing it

Any idea why the Angry Whopper is not sold anymore? I'm assuming it was not selling well enough, but everyone I know that eats at BK loved it. I was so bummed when it was discontinued. It was my go to fast food burger.

Aww man I miss that thing I loved the crunchy angry onions and sauce And it sold REALLY well... I ordered alot of the ingredients to make it to make sure I still had some more after the promotion... I'm almost certain that they discontinued it so the next time they continue the promotion they can make a big buck on it.... It's the same with the chicken Fries... And i think the last time we had it was the 3rd promotion of it so it should be back if they are smart

Are they bringing back chicken fries???

When they do bring back formerly discontinued items, how far in advance are you made aware?

A few months

What can someone order thats not on the menu?

I've had people order quesadillas, shredded chicken bbq sandwich, grilled cheese sandwich, ham and cheese(before they released the "yumbo") beef salads, root beer floats(pretty much any float including an icee float... Sooo good lol) chicken nugget sandwich, ham dipped in bbq heated up and put on long bun with cheese and onion rings(really good) a bk version of a" mc.dank".. And bags of ice(10 lbs for 1.59 btw) and Prolly more I can't remember.. :)

did you or anyone in your branch take home uneaten food or food that is supposed to be thrown out anyway?

One word... Cinibons

Would you let a women with a kangaroo stay in your store?

Haha if I could pet it yeah

What POS system does your franchise owner choose for their sites?

I work for a company that some BKs use for their registers, wonder if your site is one of them.

Sicom is the system :)

How did you do in school?

I struggled with it just like everyone else but I did get my bachelor of Science with a major in Computing and Software Systems

What are some of the custom orders people get?

Alot of allergy related orders... Had a few 10 patty whoppers before... Alot of our customers have a "custom order"

What was the worst customer ever to deal with?

One time this lady came in and slipped onto a wet floor sign (irony?) and broke a strap on her "200$" shoes tried suing us for injuries and her shoes but she got no where... Long story short, she kept calling the owner and corporate about it and i bought her shoes on eBay for $30 to shut her up lol (she didn't know how much I spent on them btw)

how much sales do your branch need to break even?

Edit: i decided not to disclose this info (burger King can buy some really good attorneys that i cant) thanks stockbroker

What does "ding fries are done" mean to you?

It means family guy is on and I should sit down and watch it

You guys need a better way to cut the lettuce up. All I ever get are these huge pieces that just fall out and all over the place. Any chance you can up channel this? This rough chop on the lettuce isn't cutting it. Got to shred them more finely.

That would be the "prep guys" fault.. I make sure that the lettuce at my store is good.. I get angry when I find chunks in it... You should let them know how you feel

I live in Korea and I don't like to eat beef. I usually order a Whopper with cheese, hold the patty. I get a discount of about $2.40. Is this a worldwide thing?

Alot of people don't like beef over here... We have a veggie patty we can put on it tho

Why did Bk change from the far more delicious crown shaped nuggets to the horse shit nuggets you now sell?

My store has never had "crown shape" nuggets in the time I have been at bk... I actually like our new nuggets tho... Seasoned yummm

Hey, thanks for doing this AMA!

What do you consider an efficient waiting time for your drive-thru customers? I know this is biased, but a majority of the times I attend a Burger King here in the Midwest, my wait time in the drive-thru is usually way longer than average. I know this is store by store basis, but the 3 or 4 that are in my area are always around 4-8 minute wait, even when I'm the only one in line. Just curious if you know what your averages were!

Another question, do you know of any customers that have disgusting habits or food that they order? I once watched a person eat 20 McChickens at McDonald's, didn't know if you knew of any incidents that were similar in your store!

Thanks again and good luck with your future in the company!

I got a txt from the closing manager an hour ago with all of the info... Our avg fir today was 3:11...our monthly avg is 2:48 and our goal is 2:30...

20 Mc chickens? Holy crap! No nothing like that but there is this guy who freaked out about not having enough tarter in his fish (after we put heavy tarter on it twice) so then I tipped the tarter container over and started scooping it out.... He now comes in every day for his fish with a mountain of tarter (he insisted on paying extra fir the excess of tarter) he eats every last drop too.. Gross

Thanks for the response!

Ultimately, I don't mind waiting be wait, because usually the food is very fresh and hot to order. Plus, they're able to give me as many zesty sauces as I want (easily my favorite dipping sauce out of all fast food chains) which is great in this day and age of McDonald's giving you a limited supply.

Oh man! A mountain of tartar sauce, holy gross. Yeah, 20 McChickens, I had to watch it. So. Much. Mayonnaise. Nastiest thing I've ever seen.

You know that's what everyone says about waiting (it's always hot) and yeah we don't charge for extra sauce either :p

what is your level of education?

I struggled with it just like everyone else but I did get my bachelor of Science with a major in Computing and Software Systems

What's the trick to making sure all of your food is made fresh? Making the food custom? (no ketchup, add bacon?)

we have timers on all of the products to insure it's freshness...aand if someone orders no ketchup we don't put it on it, add bacon? We put bacon on :) I'm not sure if that answered your question

He is asking what's the keywords a person would have to say to ensure his or her food would be made fresh then and there. Many fast food joints have burgers under a hot lamp for longer than they should. Just because you don't doesn't mean my place had that standard (it doesn't)

For Fries you could say no salt or a well done burger.. Or you can just ask for your food to be made fresh.. When someone asks us that we always drop new product just for them (it does slow us down but it's ok) I myself have never really had complaints of food not being fresh :/ maybe I should travel and train other people how to run a store lol

Oh it did, just curious because sometimes food can have that.... sat around for a while look to it.

We toss it before that happens :)

How high is your turn-over rate? Are you always in "hiring" mode?

Yup I always have people Quitting... But I also have good people who stay

What are your thoughts on the giant clusterfuck that happened to BK Germany a few months ago?

For those not in the know: An investor bought 80ish corporate-owned BKs, and made each store a potpourri of failed hygiene checks, food poisoning, stacks and stacks of worker's complaints, various illegal things to do with wages, and many other Bad Things.

I think it's stupid and the person is a cheapskate....shoukd have been stopped sooner

How strict are you with your employees when it comes to getting food without paying or getting a little snack on the side such as cookies, nuggets, etc.?

If they steal it... It upsets me and I am supposed to fire them on the spot... Do i? Not really no but they do get in trouble... But if they ask me I am more than willing to give them some :) because I can "write it off" and everything is accounted for... But I can't be there all the time.. And I'm sure people eat nuggets and cookies here and there but hey what can Ya do?

what is your typical workday?

10-15 hours a day of mayhem!

I totally lost the taste for Burger King years ago when they microwaved things so badly that a crisp piece of lettuce was never a possibility.

Does BK still nuke their food before it goes to the customer?

The only thing we have nuked are the chickens with thick cheese... "Italian" chicken sandwiches...

Do you actually like the food there?

I do actually :)

Why isn't the Stacker meal on the menu anymore?

The stackers got discontinued but you can still order it (it will just have the big king sauce instead of the stacker sauce) but they are pretty much the same thing.. We still have buttons on our system because they still get ordered.. If they tell you they don't have it anymore they are liars and can still make it :p

what meat are used in your burgers? all my life i was told the burgers at BK are made of pork. true story?

/edit: and customers can build their custom burgers too, right? could i come and ask for 5 or 10 burger patties in my sandwich?

Haha no its just beef, although a long time ago (before I started working there) there were reports of horse meat being in the burgers... But burger King quickly changed their supplier and had all old product thrown out.. Ever since then corporate does weekly inspections of their suppliers for anything out of the ordinary :)

Edit: this happend in the UK btw Edit edit : And yes you could ask for a 10 patty anything ;) will be expensive tho and hard to package but we will do it

thanks for your quick answer :D i edited my post, here the change again in case you missed it:

and customers can build their custom burgers too, right? could i come and ask for 5 or 10 burger patties in my sandwich?

Your welcome! And i did see it :)

Does your BK have a TV? Are there any corporate rules about what goes on the TV, or is there a particular reason so many BKs put on Fox News so that I can eat my Whopper while being unpleasantly serenaded with Conservative opinions, instead of something neutral that wouldn't make customers uncomfortable?

We do have t.v but yeah it's mostly just news and sports... We switch between cnn and Fox (we switch when a customer complains ) and we don't play cartoons or anything because customers complain about what they watch :/

Why show Fox at all, instead of something like Headline News or the Weather Channel or something that isn't going to result in a complaint? That goes for MSNBC, too -- I don't get why you provide political opinions with my hamburger at all.

Fox seems to be the universal one around here: 9 times out of ten, up here in Minnesota, if a restaurant has a TV on, it's Fox News, and the 1 out of 10 is the Weather Channel.

Weather is also on the list.. But we have alot of "old" people that like to watch the damn news haha its dumb I know I try to keep everyone happy

Burger Burger! Burger burger BURGER?!

King King King! King Burger! Burger King?!

Burger King!

Why do you keep all the fried chicken stuff in yellow containers under a heat lamp for hours at a time?

If you don't want to answer that loaded question; what is the best way to keep labor under 12%?

It's not a heat lamp and all chicken products are only hold for 15 minutes before it is tossed (but it usually gets sold) I keep labor low by scheduling the right amount of people and sending people home if it gets slow

What was the craziest reason you had to let someone go?

One of my employees hit a customer one time.. Was crazy

/r/casualiama?

Cheese burger

Have you heard of the vada pav?

No but it looks good!

Former BK employee here. Any word on Stackers making a comeback? They're still my all time favorite fast food burger even though I made a thousand when I worked there.

You can still make them with the "big king" sauce.. Not the same but it will do :) and i dont think they will come back

I might be getting a job at burger king. Is there any wag i would be able to get around shaving? I would trim and make sure its not scraggaly or whatever and i would wear a hairnet. What is the BK facial hair policy?

It all depends on what the franchise owner wants... Ours wants us clean shaven all the time but corporates says you can cover 1/3 of your face I do believe (don't quite me on that one) but like I said it still will be up to the franchise owner k(unless it's a corporate store ofc)

Why were the cheesy tots discontinued? Then brought back as "loaded"? Which were nothing like the original.

I want the originals to come back!!!11112qqq2w1

They were just a promotional item that went away.. Then a new product "loaded potato bites" came and gone aswell they are just promo items designed to make sales increase for a short period of time.

WHEN ARE THEY COMING BACK!!11?

I don't think anytime soon...If at all.. They are not on my special bk calender... You know how long it took them to bring back chicken Fries? Lol

I love the deals I get from the Burger King app, but why does the cashier always look so befuddled when I try to use one? It's like I'm showing then hieroglyphs.

Lol alot of employees don't know how to enter them in on the Pos system

Can you make sure they always put zesty sauce in with my onion rings? Let's be honest. I'm there for the zesty sauce.

If you come to my store.. Sure thing! Pete over here have started calling it onion rings sauce

Is there a product that's noticeably more annoying/worse to make?

When I used to work on boards(making food) I always hated making salads because it took you away from the board to the "salad station" and just took too one when your making a lot of other food...

It's always funny watching someone spin a shake that does not really know how and makes a huge mess. Lol

Was always hard to make anything over a triple whopper because it can't fit in the wrapper/box lol

Breakfast sacked making... It's easy but you have to be really fast "can i get 20 sec(sausage egg cheese) burritos" and you would have to run around like a chicken with your head cut off u less there was someone else there (usually at 8am is when I schedule someone else) because it's just the cook and assistant mngr there that early

How long are you guys going to have the 4 cheese whopper? I really like that sandwich.

It will be here for a bit... I can't give out dates (I do know for sure) I really like it as well... I make cheesy Fries with the sauce it's really good too :)

Have you even encountered with this young man http://imgur.com/aaZEuGN ?

....?

Why, when I go to BK with a group of six people, do I only get 3 napkins? What the holy frak. I am compulsive and need to wipe my mouth/hands after every bite and the employees act like I am taking money out of their paycheck when I ask for more napkins.

Maybe they are "uneducated?" it blows me away that people can lack common sense... And maybe they get upset because they were told to only put a certain amount in bags?

Maybe, I just wish they would put a napkin dispenser out in the lobby so I can get my own napkins and not have to continue to bother them when I need more.

I thought you were in drive thru... We have dispensers in m bk.. Maybe they took it out to penny pinch.. Idk you should ask them why there are none in the lobby

I'll do that next time, but I don't remember the last time I saw a manager in the front area with the burger flippers so they may not be able to give me a satisfactory answer.

Just ask if you could speak with a manager :) shouldn't take long :) and tbh crew members don't quit know how to deal with customers most of the time :/

Edit: we do get a lot of people taking a crap ton of napkins and putting g them in purse or w/e... Maybe that's another reason.