This Is the Worst Time To Go to McDonald’s, According to a Former Employee

If you know one thing about us at Allrecipes, it's that we love to shop smarter, not harder. Whether we’re going grocery shopping or visiting our favorite restaurant, we want to get the best experience possible. That means knowing what to buy, but also when to go. That’s why we’ve reported on the worst times to go grocery shopping (spoiler alert: it’s Saturday from 12 to 3 p.m.)—and even more specifically, the worst times to go shopping at some of our favorite stores, like Costco and Trader Joe’s.

When it comes to your go-to fast food restaurant, you probably think you know when not to visit—when the drive-thru line is long, and the food is going to take a little bit longer. If we had to take a guess, we probably would have told you to avoid McDonald’s during the lunch rush (similar to a grocery store) between 12 and 3 p.m. However, a former McDonald’s corporate chef recently shared a TikTok revealing the true worst time to go to a McDonald’s restaurant. In fact, it’s not during lunch at all, but it actually makes a lot of sense.

The Worst Time To Visit McDonald's

According to Mike Haracz, the creator of the video, the absolute worst time to eat at a McDonald’s restaurant is 10:30 a.m. Here's why.

You might recall that McDonald’s ended its all-day breakfast menu, so now breakfast ends and lunch begins at 10:30 a.m. at most restaurants. Haracz says that this changeover period makes for the worst time to visit the restaurant because there’s so much shuffling around going on.

“It is a cluster in the restaurants transitioning from breakfast to lunch,” Haracz says in the video. “All of these moving parts are happening while it’s also getting busier at the restaurant, while also switching an entire menu, while trying to run out of all the breakfast items and add all the lunch items. It causes a lot of issues within the restaurants.”

Because most of the cooking equipment is the same for breakfast and lunch—like the fryers and grills—at 10:30 a.m., employees have to stop making breakfast items and start cooking lunch items. That way they’re ready for customers ordering a Big Mac and fries as opposed to a McMuffin and hash brown. Unless, of course, you’re trying to order the viral McBrunch Burger that combines the best of both worlds.

That changeover period initiates a mad dash of McDonald’s fry cooks trying to add as many lunch items to the Universal Holding Cabinet, which holds “cooked food items [to] service customers extra quickly,” according to Haracz. That way, they can try to serve customers lunch as soon as it starts, but it does cause longer-than-normal wait times.

Additionally, at this period when Mickey D’s needs all hands on deck, it's also possible that a shift change is underway, according to Haracz. 

“Crew are switching over sometimes,” he says. “Sometimes more headcount come in or leave at that time.”

All of this can lead to longer wait times and messed up orders. However, while Haracz spent the nearly two-minute video explaining why 10:30 a.m. is the worst time to eat at McDonald’s, commenters shared why they actually love to go to Mickey D’s at that time.

“I find just after 10:30am to be the best time to get lunch cuz all the lunch items are the freshest at that point,” user Gabriel Brandon commented.

That just goes to show that the “worst” time really is in the eye of the beholder. If you’re willing to sit in the McDonald’s drive-thru for a few extra minutes to get piping hot fries, maybe it’s worth braving the 10:30 a.m. chaos—or maybe you’ll just stick to your usual 12 p.m. slot from here on out.