12 Food Industry Workers Spill Secrets That Can Make You Rethink Your Next Order

When you wonder whether it’s safe to order that hot dog, your gut feeling might actually be right. People who know firsthand what really happens behind the scenes at your favorite restaurants and cafes have decided to share secrets that could reshape your dining experiences. Knowing some of these truths could actually save your taste buds—and your health.

• "A barista here. Never order a coffee if you can’t see how it’s actually made—and I mean the whole process. We’re not allowed to tell this to customers, but your coffee is almost always made from a coffee machine that is rarely cleaned. Those machines can harbor old coffee residue and bacteria, affecting both the taste and hygiene of your drink."
• "I used to work at a frozen yogurt shop. If you see a topping and think, “I’ve never thought of that being a topping for frozen yogurt,” you probably aren’t alone. Things like fruity pebbles were just put back out every morning, getting older and older because no one ate them." Minaowl / Reddit
• "If there's a shake machine that is always working, don't get a shake there. It's perfectly safe to get a shake from the one that is always “broken”. The reason the machine is down so often is because it has a really long cleaning cycle that needs to be done frequently." Belteshazzar98 / Reddit

• "Former waiter here. If the restaurant offers you free tap water, don’t drink it—especially if it has lemon in it. My manager yelled at me once for telling a customer that, but this water is actually often unclean, and the lemon is added to mask the unpleasant taste."
• "Any “sandwich” from a fast food place. No, we don’t make anything in house. It’s shipped out to us frozen, and we just reheat it in the oven for your money." supreme_wavedash / Reddit
• "Do not. Buy. The hot dogs. They made it out of the package okay, and might even have been edible after we finished grilling them - and then they went into the water. We kept three pans of water at the back of the grill, that held the hot dogs.
  Any hot dogs left at the end of the day went back into the fridge, and came out again the next day. I and the other cook put our feet down on throwing out the water and old hotdogs after two full days, but the management didn't want to let us.
  Oh, and our freezer broke, so all the meet got stored in the ice bin. And our management always told us when the surprise health inspections were gonna show up, usually a week or so in advance." FreakyCheeseMan / Reddit

• "If a sandwich shop asks if you want it toasted before they begin making it, it's so they can use day-old stale bread. If you want it toasted, say “no” and wait until they make the sandwich, then tell them that you changed your mind and want it toasted after all." bigstevec / Reddit
• "I worked at a bagel place, which is basically fast food. Don't order anything with eggs, they aren't real eggs and if business is slow they could have been sitting in a container for hours after they are microwaved." iburninglog / Reddit
• "I used to work at a fast food restaurant. If you order, especially chicken nuggets, just ask for them fresh. Otherwise, they've been just sitting in their container in the heat.
  They have a timer, but 9/10 times when that timer goes off, people just reset the timer instead of making new ones. This could go on until all the nuggets are sold." Ritch88 / Reddit

• "I used to work at a restaurant. The worst things you could order were generally anything that involved a lot of being touched by hands, sandwiches, salads, etc. Hygiene wasn't enforced as much as it should be, and we didn't often get the time to regularly clean our hands anyway. This went for both the waitresses and the chef." ximina3 / Reddit
• "Former kitchen worker for a grocery store restaurant. Be wary of that type of restaurant. When the meat department pulls meat off the shelf that's out of date and needs to be thrown away, they take it to the kitchen and let them use it. I've seen this done with chicken, ground beef, and fish. The worst is the fish and chicken." RedemptionX11 / Reddit
• "I worked in a local coffee and donut shop and nobody ever cleaned the soda machines. They were so gross the first time I cleaned them. I asked if anyone knew how to do it and nobody knew, nobody had ever done it." kikiorangutan / Reddit

If you’ve ever been curious about the hidden realities of your favorite hotel, prepare for some surprising insights. There’s much more happening behind the scenes than you might expect, and some of these revelations could cause you to reconsider your next visit. And some secrets from hotel employees are sure to leave you astonished—and possibly a bit cautious the next time you check in.