Spoiled burger patties, rolls chewed by mice, dried sauces – what Günter Wallraff’s investigative team observed during undercover operations in various German “Burger King” branches makes you lose your appetite. The sometimes catastrophic conditions are reminiscent of the experiences with the fast-food giant eight years ago.
A quick burger, fries and a drink, many people gravitate towards Burger King with this food desire. Eight years ago, however, covert research by “Team Wallraff” brought to light unacceptable hygiene deficiencies at “Burger King Deutschland GmbH”. As a result, 89 branches were closed at short notice, and the responsible franchisee, Yi-Ko Holding, was terminated without notice. “Burger King” promised the introduction of collective payment and comprehensive hygiene concepts.
But insider reports that have reached the Wallraff team have been increasing for the last two years. Accordingly, the working conditions and food safety in the “Burger King” branches have not improved at all. To check this, the “Team Wallraff” reporters went undercover again in four “Burger King” restaurants. RTL shows the new episode “Team Wallraff undercover at Burger King – disgust, exploitation and new scandals” today at 8:15 p.m.
In the “Burger King Deutschland GmbH” branch in Bernau near Berlin, the RTL reporter noticed on his first day in the kitchen that customers were often sold out-of-date goods. Each food item must be provided with a label indicating when the product is to be discarded according to Burger King’s internal guidelines. But the reporter can regularly observe how employees “trick” with the so-called holding times. The old label is simply pasted over with a new one – and fresh hold times. During his assignment, he is repeatedly asked to use expired burger ingredients such as bread, although these should actually be disposed of. In its statement to RTL, “Burger King Deutschland GmbH” writes that it will invest in process optimization, including: “Renewed training for restaurant management, especially in the areas of food safety, hygiene and vegan preparation; the training takes place personally as well as digitally (in different languages).”
Maybe this is just an isolated case? “Burger Kings” franchisee “F
However, it gets worse. In the kitchen, the reporter discovers mice and their droppings as well as gnawed burger buns. Shortly before, burger buns were sold from the same pack of buns. “Burger King” comments on the allegations: “Our detailed analysis has shown that although our standards are high […], we obviously do not always succeed in anchoring them on site with all employees. We will improve the training culture for and develop with the teams in such a way that it is more focused than ever on a first-class and holistic guest experience.” The mice situation was not answered explicitly.
An RTL reporter also documents various abuses in the “Burger King” branch in Cologne-Lövenich. “Burger King” has been advertising its vegan and vegetarian products with the slogan “Normal or with meat” for some time. But apparently “vegan” is not in everything that says “vegan” on it. The reporter has observed several times how burgers are falsely sold as vegan. She is repeatedly encouraged to use regular mayonnaise when preparing a vegan burger instead of the egg-free alternative. In the statement to RTL, “Burger King Deutschland GmbH” says: “Since April 2022 we have only been using mayonnaise without eggs (vegan) as the new standard for all our products – regardless of whether they are plant-based, beef or chicken.”
“Burger King” has its own quality control, the internal restaurant evaluation, in which guest service, food quality, staff and cleanliness are evaluated. These checks are actually supposed to take place unannounced, but the reporter notes that everyone seems to know in advance and spends hours cleaning up the branch. “Burger King” said the following to RTL: “Compliance with the standards is ensured through management training and regular audits by external auditors in all restaurants in Germany. In addition, Burger King would like to review the REV inspection process in the future and Increase frequency.”
When “Burger King” is confronted with the various allegations, the restaurants mentioned are suddenly surprisingly closed. The reason in all cases: alleged technical problems. The fast food chain says: “After we found out about your allegations, we – together with our franchise partners – acted immediately and took appropriate measures.” The restaurants were “closed immediately and an extraordinary, external audit was ordered for all 750 Burger King restaurants in Germany”. This should be completed by the end of September 2022 at the latest.
