Former McDonald’s worker explains why they don’t give extra sauce packets

Molly Byrne
mcdonalds sauce packets

A former McDonald’s worker explained in detail why the chain doesn’t hand out extra sauce packets to customers.

When ordering from McDonald’s, it’s always a must to check your bag before leaving the restaurant to ensure the sauce packets are included. 

However, McDonald’s has a limit on how many sauces each customer can get. With that in mind, a poster posed a question on Quora, asking why there’s a cap on sauce packets.

A former McDonald’s worker has since responded, detailing why they don’t hand out extra sauce packets.

Former McDonald’s worker says a six-piece nugget only gets one sauce packet

A thread on Quora began with the question, “Are McDonald’s employees told not to give out so much sauce?”

A former McDonald’s worker responded, saying that employees are instructed to only give a certain amount of sauce packets per box of chicken nuggets.

The former worker said that a four-piece nugget only gets one sauce, a six-piece gets one, a ten-piece gets two, and a twenty-piece gets three — all for free.

The former McDonald’s worker then explained why they charge for extra sauces, saying that the corporation will save money for every 20 sauces they don’t hand out.

Former McDonald's worker says they are usually happy to give away an extra sauce packet despite being instructed not to.
Former McDonald’s worker says they are usually happy to give away an extra sauce packet despite being instructed not to.

They added, “The less you have to spend on these things, the more you can allocate your budget on more pressing losses such as the drink fountain.”

That’s why, in most cases, they’ll only give customers the proper amount until they ask for an extra. However, the former McDonald’s worker also mentioned, “Realistically we really don’t mind giving extra if it makes you happy.”

They continued, “Just that the price of an item isn’t just accounting for the ingredients and materials… Most people forget that labor and other expenses such as electricity and gas also need to be accounted for.”

Finishing off their answer, the former McDonald’s worker said that the chain just tries to save when they can.

To read another story about McDonald’s and their secret French fry ingredient, check our page out here.