It’s not a commonplace thing to visit a sanctum sanctorum – McDonald’s fast-food restaurant. Almost every one of us visits it at least a few times a months, and some of us even more often; but have they ever thought of how all these burgers are made? Want to find out? You are welcomed inside.

Near the staff entrance we were met by the director of a restaurant on Baumanskaya station, Aleksander Ostroukhov, and he lead us to his room (a tiny one, to tell you the truth) right away. Then we were asked to put on boot covers and special caps (they look almost like shower caps.) Feels strange, but you can make an effort.

At first we were walking around different shops and inspecting products.

The thing which really surprises you is that all products used for cooking in McDonald’s are usual products that you can find in every Russian grocery store. Formerly all products were made by a special McCenter, but now Russia’s McDonald’s have a line of suppliers. For instance, milk is a usual Parmalat one (can be found almost in every shop in Russia and CIS.)

These are buns we’ve got here. They are the same in all corners of the world, but different for various sandwhiches. Buns’ common standard allows working miracles – these buns could be made either in Ukraine, Russia or Finland.

Punch cards.

Service area of McDonald’s turned out to be much smaller than anyone could ever imagine. On this shot you can see the kitchen stuff for McBreakfasts, it is being fetched only for 3 hours a day – from 7 till 10 am.

Sometimes the restaurants are visited by bloodthirsty vampires. Joking. Just strawberry topping.

And this is kitchen! Usually it is divided onto two zones. One is for cooking popular sandwiches (like BigMacs, Cheeseburgers or Big’n’Tasties) and the other one for not so popular ones (Fillet-o-Fish or ChickenBurgers.)

Now Alexander is going to reveal a secret of how to cook a sandwich from McDonald’s. Let it be Royal De Luxe.

You must take a beef cutlet and put it in a press-oven.

While the cutlet is being cooked we are supposed to make everything else. So, you get a bun and put it into a toasting oven. Bun is supposed to be a bit sweet to get proper browned.

Then some mustard goes in.

And after it you must add ketchup.

Then onion and pickles. By the way, pickles are delivered to a McDonald’s restaurants already sliced.

A bit of lettuce on all of that.

And some mayo as a final titbit.

Tomatoes. Just usual tomatoes like the ones you buy at a market.

Cheese. Usual cheese, Hochland brand which is quite popular in Russia. It can be either Cheddar or Emmental.

Now it’s high time for the cutlet to get involved.

Closing the box and turning it upside down.

That’s all. The burger is ready.

Alas, but freshly prepared sandwich is not a long-liver, its keeping time is something about 10 minutes. Then it either eaten by a client or thrown away.

This oven is called ‘chickens cabinet.’ Cooked nuggets and chicken cutlets are kept in here. Their keeping time is 20 minutes.

Coffee of McDonald’s. Just usual Paulig. Not so bad, actually.

Special bun troubleshooting tool. Want to measure your bun?

And some standalone shots:

Story and photos via macos