‘I was told too many people would order it’: Former McDonald’s corporate chef says he was blocked from creating a hash brown sandwich

Over the years, fast food restaurants have come up with some wild menu ideas. There was KFC’s infamous Double Down, in which a sandwich’s bread was replaced by two pieces of fried chicken. Then, there was Burger King’s odd partnership with Cheetos, with whom they joined together to create fried Mac and Cheese sticks they dubbed “Mac n’ Cheetos.”

Seeing menu items like these, it’s easy to wonder what ideas for menu items didn’t make the cut. Now, a user on TikTok has gone viral after claiming to reveal one such item: a hash brown sandwich.

In a clip with over 791,000 views, TikTok user and self-proclaimed “former McD corporate chef” Mike Haracz (@chefmikeharacz) stitches with a video in which a user creates a breakfast sandwich that features two hash browns instead of a bun.

“I was told that it’s too many calories, it’s too operationally complex, and too many people would order it and it would make the kitchen just crash and burn,” Haracz explains.

@chefmikeharacz #stitch with @Diegos_eats They didn’t let me have any fun. #McDonalds #mcdonaldsbreakfast #mcdonaldsbreakfastsandwich #mcdonaldshashbrowns #mcdonaldssausagemcmuffin #SausageMcMuffin #sausagemcmuffinwithegg #McMuffin #EggMcMuffin #fastfoodbreakfast ♬ original sound - Chef Mike Haracz

Haracz had previously gone viral for explaining how to tell if your McDonald’s is a “good” McDonald’s and claiming that the store’s promotional Big Mac sauce packets did not actually contain Big Mac sauce.

Back in the aforementioned video, the sandwich in the original video appears to be composed of a McDonald’s sausage patty, egg, and slice of cheese, along with the two hash browns that make up its bun. As the sausage patty has 190 calories, the egg has 80 calories, the cheese has 50 calories, and each hash brown has 140 calories, the proposed sandwich would contain 600 calories.

While this is a substantial amount of calories, it’s not unheard of for McDonald’s menu items, even on the breakfast menu. For example, the chain’s Sausage, Egg & Cheese McGriddle contains 550 calories; the restaurant’s limited-time “Cheesy Jalapeño Bacon Quarter Pounder®* with Cheese Double” boasts nearly 900 calories.

The bigger problem with the idea, Haracz notes in a follow-up video, is the operational complexity.

@chefmikeharacz Replying to @Johnathan Katz Some things might be too good for a #McDonalds restaurant. #mcdonaldssecrets #mcdonaldsdrivethru #mcdonaldsworker #mcdonaldslife #McMuffin #EggMcMuffin #sausageandeggmcmuffin #McDonaldsBreakfast #eggmcmuffins #fastfoodbreakfast #fastfoodlife ♬ original sound - Chef Mike Haracz

According to Haracz, while the idea may have been strong, actually producing the sandwich involves several areas of the kitchen, a significant amount of time to cook the requisite items, and a limited amount of time one can actually use the item’s ingredients after they’ve been cooked.

While a kitchen may be able to handle this for the occasional order, “goofy people are going to come and order 6, 8, 10 of those at a time,” Haracz. This could lead to significant slowdown, making the idea potentially good in theory but not possible in practice.

However, that didn’t stop TikTok commenters from yearning for such a sandwich.

“Can you imagine getting told we can't do your idea because it's too good?” asked a user.

“getting told cant because too many calories by McDonalds, gotta be like gettin kicked from acasino for losing toomuch,” joked another.

“as someone who's gluten intolerant and loves hash browns I'm ashamed of mcd corporate,” stated a third.

The Daily Dot reached out to McDonald’s and Haracz via email.

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