Thread: Do not eat at applebee's !

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Hi guys. I just wanted to post about my experience cooking at applebnees' and there horrid lack of concern for sanitation and health hazards. Let me start off by saying that i have worked in many restaurants over the years I Took a part time job there and started work two days ago as a cook. I have never seen a place that completely disregards health and safety standards like they do.

They have a "trainer" for each area who trains all of the employees for each area. One of the first things he told me was to forget about a brake, that only management gets a 30 minute brake.( keep in mid were talking 8 or 9 hour days) If you were a smoker you might get a five minute brake at some point. When i was being trained my trainer (we'll call him mike) dropped some food on the floor and picked it back up and threw it back in the fryer for a few seconds then put it on the costumers platter.

I said is that what were supposed to do if something is dropped? He told me yes that this is what the managers want us to do with any food items that are drooped. I told him it was disgusting and he said there policy is that the grease from the fryer (or heat from the grill, or microwave) will kill the germs. The only time when not to do it is if theres a inspector on site. Anyone with half a brain knows this is untrue and why people get sick.

I was also told that if a utensil, bowl, lid or plate gets dropped to go ahead and use it that the main concern is the costumers wait time. I also was trained to mix all the wings and seafood products in the same dressing bowls which can make a person with a seafood alergy sick if not kill them

I continued working through the day and saw countless items (including food) being dropped and used. At the end of the night when it came time to teardown the fryers and grill the parts were thrown on the floor over a drain and just hosed off with warm water. No dishwasher, no sanitizer or soap, no scrubbing or sink. It was all done right there in the mop drain (which was over flowed with slop) on the floor which means what ever is on the floor is being cycled back in to the fryers. They didn't even use any kind of soap or product on the grills just water again.

Half of the cooks were just reaching into food containers grabbing hand fulls of lettuce or what ever it was at the time, with no gloves. (or hand washing)

They also didn't keep there food prep counters clean, they would just use the same bucket of water and sanitizer for the full shift with god only knows what floating in it. All of the make lines(were food is prepared right before being plated) and prep counters were filthy. I even watched one guy cut his fingers while cutting rib portions and just rinse the knife off with water and went back to cutting ribs.

I left that night amazed and horrified at all the things i had seen there. I went back for my next shift to see if maybe it was just he people who were working that shift. It wasn't the place was just as bad. I asked the guy training me how long i had to memorize the menu and he said three days. At that point i was planning to talk to a manager who was off duty when i saw him since he seemed to be reasonable. After seeing chris drop the lid to the salad mixing bowl and throw it back on and continue mixing someones order I told him i didn't know if i would continue to work there with that and the other issues. He asked my to hold on a sec then came back and said the manager said If i didn't want to be there 100% to just leave.. I went to my car and got there company shirts and took them in and started to tell her three days isn't really enough time to memorize the menu. I said I'm not sure if i can have it all 100% and she said well you can just go homeright now if you don't want to be here. I wanted to tell her what i thought of the food safety issues but she just wanted me to leave.

At that point i was thoroughly disgusted and wanted to stuff a hand full of dropped food in the womans face and tell here what i thought of her and there health policy. but I just said screw it and left. I knew i could have threw a fit but it wouldn't have made a difference anyway. And i sure as hell wasn't going to be responsible for someone getting sick or even dying.

I guess my point is that if you value you health don't eat at applebees's

Too bad you couldn't tell the health department. Like you said when an inspector is there they do it by the book(unless you could suggest to them to maybe do it undercover). We went to Arby's a few years back when I was pregnant. We were in our car getting ready to leave when I noticed the girl who handled our food by the dumpster glancing around her. I told hubby don't leave yet, she's up to something......oh wow was she ever. She proceeded to open a garbage bag, take half eaten sandwich out and eat it. I could have thrown up right there. We went home and I called the manager to let her know what we had seen. She gave me a bunch of lame excuses and apologies. Needless to say I wrote a letter to the health department(it was the only way to file a complaint..by written letter). For whatever insane reason we went back to that same Arby's sometime later. Same girl is working there. Hubby tells the woman waiting on us that in no way shape or form is she to touch our food. They did wind up putting flyers all over the place with a 1800 complaint number Thanks for the warning about Applebees. We don't eat there often and now we will never eat there again.

Thanks for the info. Sorry you had such a bad experience at your new job.
I think if we all knew what went on in the kitchens of a lot of restaurants we frequent we would never eat out again!

Ok, now I have to go BARF.................

Some people just don't care, I work at an auto parts store . I noticed a co-worker throwing away a cup of cold drink. I took the cup out and dumped the drink and he asked why I did that. I said "some guy will take the trash out , drag it on the floor, then next thing we know we will have a spill all over the floor ,then we will have to mop it up." Just think people! All it takes is a little common sense. Do they do that at home. Why would you do that here! if we knew what happens at resturants we would only eat at home.

Report them to the Health Department before someone gets really ill.
If they get enough complaints there will be an investigation.

Food sanitation is hit and miss, to be sure. At every restaurant you will find food safety issues. Here's something else to think about...your own home!

I taught ServSafe classes (restaurant sanitation). Before the class, the managers were required to read a thick manual about food sanitation practices and the science behind it. Then, at class, I would start by asking them to tell me what they realized about their own home's screwy sanitation practices. The responses were great. My favorite one was the dish towel that hung over the faucet. They would launder it when it started to get smelly...heh

It is very difficult to be 100% food safe but you can get close. Hand-washing, correct holding temperatures and avoiding cross-contamination are the biggies.

I went to my nephew's birthday party a few years back. His grandma, a food inspector, served the cake. In between each slice, she would lick her fingers off. I told my son, but nobody else seemed to notice or care. Bleah!!!!

Actually, it takes food quite a bit longer to accrue harmful stuff once dropped on the floor than previously thought, but it's still...uhm...not okay that they did (are still doing?) this. Plus all the other junk. I just may not ever eat at an Applebee's again... D:

Was nearly hospitalised for salmonella poisoning from tainted Chinese food once. Not fun.

I know this is a big issue in a lot of kitchens in a lot of restaurants, but one thing I think should be considered is that these places tend to be chain restaurants which have one parent company and all the individual companies are run by Managers and so forth. So all Applebee's aren't going to have the same conditions as the one you have had the unfortunate experience of working in. Many unfortunately will, but not all.

I would have called the Health Department, and maybe even taken pics with a cell phone camera or video taped such incidents. Heck, kitchens should have security cameras right?

In any case, I would be leery of food prepared where you cannot see it, but I prefer just to not think about it at all.
If I do think about it I may just end up eating nothing but processed, prepackaged, super frozen, heated until slightly burned psuedo-food.

As someone that WAS hospitalized (ER admitted me... on Valentine's Day no less ) for food poisoning a few years back, I gotta say I'd be rooting for you to report that particular restaurant.