--- title: 'I Tried Working at a Fast Food Restaurant' source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=LjSIZeM1cCo' video_id: 'LjSIZeM1cCo' date: 2026-07-21 duration_sec: 969 channel: 'Joshua Weissman' --- # I Tried Working at a Fast Food Restaurant > Source: [I Tried Working at a Fast Food Restaurant](https://youtube.com/watch?v=LjSIZeM1cCo) ## Summary A food critic and YouTuber spends a day working at Jollibee, a popular fast food chain, to experience the challenges of front-of-house and back-of-house operations. He undergoes training, cooks menu items, and ultimately faces a final test serving a live customer, gaining a newfound respect for fast food workers. ### Key Points - **Challenge Accepted** [00:00] — The host, a food critic, decides to work at Jollibee, a fast food restaurant he considers the best in America, to understand the behind-the-scenes work. - **Register Training** [00:43] — He learns to use the register with trainer Russell, taking orders and handling payments, but struggles with the many buttons and the pressure of a large first order. - **Drive-Thru Experience** [02:27] — He works the drive-thru, taking orders and assembling them, finding it much harder than it looks due to the need for speed and multitasking. - **Cooking Chicken Sandwiches** [04:26] — He learns to make the original and spicy deluxe chicken sandwiches, focusing on assembly, saucing, and wrapping, but initially fails the gold standard test. - **Making Cheeseburgers** [06:42] — He prepares cheeseburgers, including butter toasting buns, grilling patties, and assembling with toppings, passing the gold standard on his second attempt. - **Chicken Joy Preparation** [08:33] — He learns the breading and pressure frying process for Jollibee's signature Chicken Joy, but fails the gold standard on his first try due to bald spots. - **Second Attempt Success** [11:26] — After a second attempt, he achieves 100% gold standard on the Chicken Joy, demonstrating improvement and attention to detail. - **Final Test: Serving Uncle Roger** [11:42] — He must cook a full order for critic Uncle Roger within 8 minutes, including a cheeseburger, spicy chicken sandwich, and Chicken Joy, which he completes successfully. - **Franchise Invitation** [15:44] — After passing all tests, Jollibee invites him to apply for a franchise, surprising him and highlighting his achievement. ### Conclusion The host successfully completes the challenge, earning praise from Uncle Roger and a franchise invitation from Jollibee, underscoring the difficulty and skill required in fast food work. ## Transcript For years I've been at war with fast food these  are billiondoll corporations that I've always   felt like weren't giving us what we deserve but  I don't know what it's like to work behind the   counter today that all changes i'm actually going  to be working at what I consider to be the best   fast food restaurant in America jollibee they've  won many of our challenges and we're right next   to their headquarters obviously my years of  fining experience will help me right i'll be   taking orders working the fryers and handling  everything in between all while the head chef   of Jollibee North America puts me through a day  of intense training and he is not going to make   this easy for me because after my lessons my name  really is on the line as my cooking will be judged   by one of the internet's harshest critics will  I meet my beloved Jollibee's gold standard or   will I flop it all starts here at the register i'm  here with my friend Russell he's going to walk me   through how to run this thing you take your orders  over here chicken tenders your chicken sandwiches   god there's so many buttons i'm like "Okay so walk  me through an order then." Customer orders chicken   joy with two sides and a drink pick two piece  chicken they want fries finish order and then   the total amount go ahead and tap their card okay  okay first of all I've never worked front of house   and I've never worked a kiosk like this should be  interesting i can smile giving that jolly spirit   to them show us your jolly spirit you want to see  my jolly spirit all trained up ready to go and I   got thrown in the deep end right away oh hello  jolly morning how are you what can I get for you   today of course so bucket meal deal all right here  we go we got to start off strong do we okay okay   already messed up a little bit not the start I  was hoping for but we're trying i'm new here i'm   learning today i'm absolutely panicking of course  my first order is gigantic will that complete your   order yes lovely we'll let you know right up there  when it's done so you got a tray over here tells   you what the order is die oh my god i've never  used one of these before think as if you're the   person eating it right you want to make sure  you're putting enough fries in there and stuff   little little extra little extra mashed potato  very good what does it say next pineapple quencher   put ice up to the Jollibee's hat the Jollibee hat  is a good unit of measurement a little more little   more yeah fries mashed potato pineapple quencher  bottle of water we're good to go do 120 you can   also deliver it to them however you want to do  it but of course I had to go above and beyond   and spread that jolly spirit table service table  service you go here's your order please enjoy we   all right great job again register complete now  on to our next challenge i've never seen one of   these up close before feel official holding it am  I Am I popping all right same exact procedure of   how we did it in the counter normally two people  out here one person takes the order and one person   assembles the order so today we'll probably do a  little bit of everything sounds good or maybe you   can multitask right i I I will I will try it's  time for my first customer oh my god I'm nervous   there's a car hi Jolly Morning what could I get  for you i would like to order 10 pieces chicken   joy spicy how many pieces 10 pieces 10 pieces got  it three orders of pineapple punch three orders of   pineapple punch no problem hi Jolly Morning catch  your card ask her how's her day going how's your   day going busy day and then we've got to get our  order pulled together i don't know what I'm doing   at all chicken first dressing you got your next  card coming up okay oh god joyful greeting strong   okay come on here we go i've got your Oh I don't  know here's your drink your food drive safe enjoy   your order thank you have a jolly day have a jolly  day good job all right that was good that was   brutal oh god hi Jolly Morning what can I get for  you sorry I'm new here look I'm hustling trying   to just keep up it's much harder than it looks  you want to thank him for his patience right cuz   I'm slow today guys thank you for your patience i  appreciate I'm learning today have a jolly morning   and uh drive safe great job i did it guys oh my  god front of house done and dusted i'll be honest   that pushed me way outside my comfort zone with  it being front of house but this next task should   be familiar actually cooking but then again I've  never done it in a fast food kitchen so I'm set   up to make three things they're chicken sandwiches  burgers and finally my all-time favorite fast food   fried chicken the coveted Chicken Joy for years  I've been trying to get a behind-the-scenes look   on how they make it so gosh darn good and I'm  finally almost there but first a big challenge   awaits me i need to get Jollibee and Chef Dion's  gold standard stamp of approval on the chicken   sandwiches then the burger before I can even get  near the chicken joy it's a mountain I'm prepared   to climb time to put my skills to the test so I'm  not going to show you it all but I'm just going   to tell you and we're going to follow along we'll  start with the buns bio are on the bottom grab a   good bio something nice and round crown goes away  from you heel goes towards you down in the toaster   oven so this way uh no there you go grab a fillet  wow oh my gosh so crisp our dress station oh wow   bun's already done grab the umami mayo this guy  here yep okay got it one shot on each okay oh wow   it comes out trifecta this is why you guys saw  stuff so well look at that filt goes on crown   goes on chicken sandwich wrapper oh my god it's  so It's so hard to grab with these gloves original   sandwich facing up on the packaging so you got  original chicken sandwich so that faces away from   you oh okay in the middle flip forward from the  bottom and then flip over and you fold the corners   in nice tight package and then under Perfect look  at that dude so much chicken in here can't even   keep it round next we are doing the spicy deluxe  bio bun on the bottom toward a like this grab   your pan get a fillet h Sriracha on bottom okay  beautiful two-piece jalapenos filet goes on top   perfectly centered then it's tomato lettuce so the  restaurant's still running right now by the way   i'm I'm in everyone's way god this is so hard to  get with these gloves i ended up getting two spicy   chicken sandwich here deluxe sorry deluxe spicy  yes there's four oh my god this goes centered okay   bottom you got to fold one only grab two you got  to only fold one packaging oh god so fold up why   am I having so much trouble with this okay one  up come on Josh bend the next one i want it to   look good the coordination is crazy bend this way  and then fold it under not great so a little messy   we're going to have to work on your saucy hands  that's not quite gold okay okay we'll do this one   again we'll do this one again not quite cutting it  fair play now it's time for my gold standard test   no help from Chef Dion at all i'm I'm going to be  hands off now buns in going to make it easier on   myself with a more even patty crazy fast honestly  sriracha bottom bun throw it on your jalapenos   chicken fillet tomatoes topped up with lettuce  and crown your king we need to nail it this time   all done in record time but did I do it right gold  Sanders okay oh my god you've met the gold stand   for chicken sandwiches let's move on to burgers  next we're going to do our cheeseburgers you guys   just updated this this is like a brand new it's a  classic burger bun in the middle these are butter   toasted so roll it on the butter roller both sides  got it there you go i love the butter roller i've   used one of these before actually grab your meat  got it oh wow okay to hit consistency everything   is on a timer we're going to hit the timer and  we'll know when to flip butter the grill okay beef   down now we're going to season on the bun we're  going to start constructing we're going to grab   our dressing on the crown only draw a W with your  ketchup a W yeah riceman oh that's a pretty good W   dude w three rings of onions three pickles okay  all right then we turn back to our beef you're   going to flip it when it beeps it flips there you  go beautiful cheese on top i got This is a pretty   decent Mayard that's not bad not bad i'm not mad  thermometer you want it fully cooked give her a   little flip boom boom all right and this is the  cheese so this one right here all right that's a   going to see if we can make a burger on your own  just so you know we will be judging you on how   much of that sear you keep on that burger right  right that's very fair i think you should first   the bun obviously butter boom toast that so butter  it generously go here get our patty okay gloves toasted buns top bun ketchup okay three  onion rings pickles waiting for it to loosen all right we got it cheese temp  check okay burger over cheeseburger okay cheeseburger what do we think what are we  thinking that looked like beautiful my yard fully   covered you've hit the gold standard on this one  let's move on to chicken joy this is This is it   this is the one this is the one that's won all  the challenges i finally get to know how it's   made all right we're finally here finally i think  my chicken's great i make great fried chicken i'm   not going to lie but there's something about the  chicken joy that I'm always like "What am I not   show you today start breading tumble be aggressive  at it you want to You want to just fold it over   itself like that yeah yeah aggressive tumble no  bald spots wonderful i'm like nervous it's I I   cannot put out bad chicken here and then we're  going to alternate thigh and leg you can fit all   of them on the rack you got it you got it all  right thigh leg and isn't it cool if they touch   a little bit yep okay thigh we go down here  leg thigh leg leg i didn't know you were hand   would be in a restaurant a nonfast food restaurant  got to be alternating you got leg next to leg oh   and I have thigh next to thigh so oh got it got  it got it got it got it and thigh will go here   mistakes could happen all right I think you're  missing a piece search your breading all right   grab one more piece you can fit one more piece  in there on the bottom row there's an intricate   science to max this out no then we have thigh next  to thigh though in between these two legs you can   fit one more piece all right good with that yeah  yeah let's drop it so this is a pressure fryer we   use pressure fryers for all our chicken joy that  retains that moisture and gives it that glassy   crisp we're going to slide the rack into the third  one down right here that one is stuck got it okay   take that one down and put it on the level right  above pull down yep yeah put some muscle into it   until it clicks back up okay and then pull it  forward so pull it forward and then down again   pressed it for me i pressed it for you okay thank  you so we wait and now we find out if I did it   right and after a small slumber it was time to  see my hopefully perfect chicken joy [Music] wow   that's your chicken joy it's looking good dude but  it's not over yet there's still one more crucial   step before it's judged against Jollibee gold  standard my favorite part get to put the spicy   flags on you put one on everything on everyone i  want like a hundred of these for my house flags in   chicken joy complete time for the gold standard  judgment take a look at our breading all right   beautifully craggly beautifully craggly we got  bald spots here we can do with more breading here   this one here we got to like unfold the skin in  a little bit more make sure that it's covered   josh unfortunately you did not pass let's go do  it again okay I got this second time's a shark [Music] all right Josh second time round let's  see how you did crispy crispy crispy 100% gold standard let's go dude we've nailed the  gold standard on each item individually now let's   see how you handle full order under pressure  for a live customer [Music] uncle Joshua jolly   morning Uncle Roger how are you good good you  working at Jollibee now hit like and subscribe   watch his video youtube not going so well  uncle Roger like you finally start cooking   again on your second channel it's true trying  to steal Filipino recipe don't let him steal   your chicken choy recipe uncle Roger want to  order a few things give me Give me one chicken   choice spicy spicy deluxe chicken sandwich and  one Anker's cheeseburger okay will that complete   your order yeah that would be all but Uncle  Roger want you to cook it for me Uncle Joshua   i can do that yeah why don't you hide one of  your camera in the cupet and open it all right   the challenge has been issued and I trained for  this according to Chef Dion I have eight minutes   to need to hit Uncle Rogers let's begin okay so  uh it's an Angus burger Angus cheeseburger and   a spicy deluxe which of course has all the  stuff so we have two different buns for the   Angus burger these are two top buns all right so  burger go over here first we're going to butter all right we're going to come over here this  is for our burger and this is for our chicken   sandwich so the burger get the burger gets I  don't even remember what sauce ketchup three   onions three pickles okay it's time to flip  uh no it's not okay and then the chicken gets   the spicy on both sides i don't know how that  happened okay and then it's a spicy deluxe so   it gets the jalapenos and then I don't have  to flip you i have a little bit of thyme uh   oh I need this for the chicken pick one  of these guys here coming over here flip look at that dude little my art okay come  back over here chicken going on lettuce okay okay now we're going to assemble these i  was rolling but my old enemy came back for me   i'm gonna have to hide this over here okay so  we have our burger this is a Angus cheeseburger okay cheeseburger and then our  chicken sandwich i told you these   these paper things were going to kill  me Vic i was losing crucial time here spicy deluxe okay [Music] okay time how are  we doing oh we still need the chicken in the   front oh god we still need in the front okay  okay so pull a tray to your chickens six piece   bucket yep okay six okay and then we have a lid  okay lid on gravy large got it time we did it   we did it okay we barely made it but we made  it we hit the Jollibee chicken standard but   can we hit Uncle Rogers here's your meal hope  you enjoy thank you Uncle Josh going to start   with the Anker's cheeseburger uncle Roger  didn't know Jollibee got cheeseburger now nice great start but I need to hit a  perfect three out of three here spicy   chicken deluxe sandwich fuo nice and saucy  look at this this the only vegetable you   can find in this restaurant that  why Uncle Roger like this place also the sauce got nice flavor see it's  dripping out so good last but not least   the spicy chicken choy oh look at this you can  hear how crunchy it is it all comes down to this it's really good for you oh what you doing  here go back to work is it your break time   uncle Roger feel bad I didn't tip you uncle  Joshua I think you need to cook here more   everything's so good yeah this video going to  sound like marketing sponsorship but actually   genuinely everything very good okay so it  turns out not all fast food restaurants   a little lesson taught me one always remember  all the people that it takes to make this come   together sure I can do it but not as easy as  it looks but my day wasn't over yet jollibee   had one more surprise for me now that you've  hit gold standards on all of our products we   here at Jollibee feel confident to extend an  invitation for you to apply for franchising   let's go yes yes wow is that is that actually  real just to be clear it's an invitation to   apply uh then uh we'll we'll go through the proper  processes then uh subscribe bye love you [Music]