This Is the Worst Time of Day to Visit McDonald's, According to One of Its Former Chefs

Looking to get quick service at your local McDonald’s? One of its former employees is spilling the beans on when you should, and more importantly, shouldn’t, visit. 

“Why is 10:30 the worst time to go to McDonald’s? I’m a former McDonald’s corporate chef, and here is your answer,” Mike Haracz begins in his latest TikTok video. 

Haracz goes on to explain that all-day breakfast “isn’t really a thing anymore” at McDonald’s. Instead, McDonald’s restaurants usually switch over from its breakfast to lunch menus at exactly 10:30 a.m. each day, making it a hellish time to try and get either a McMuffin or a Big Mac. 

"Now, there's a bunch of people who want their breakfast later than 10:30, there's a bunch of people who want their lunch earlier than 10:30," he says. The issue is, all the equipment is the same, and a lot of times, things are switched over from the breakfast menu to the lunch menu. That means the fryers are no longer cooking hash browns, they're cooking french fries. The grills have a different time and temperature." 

Haracz adds, all of the breakfast menu items need to be removed from the warming cabinets, and all the lunch menu items need to be added, which takes time. As does switching over the crew. 

“Crew are switching over sometimes, sometimes more headcount come in or leave at that time. So all of these moving parts are happening while it's also getting busier at the restaurant while also switching an entire menu … it causes a lot of issues within the restaurants. That is why 10:30 is the worst because it is a cluster in the restaurants transitioning from breakfast to lunch.”  

However, some people in the comments were quick to note that 10:30 a.m. is actually their favorite time because the lunch items are at their peak. 

“I find just after 10:30 am to be the best time to get lunch [because] all the lunch items are the freshest at that point,” one commenter said, "The worst time? I call that magic time because you can get a mix [of] breakfast and lunch items," another added. 

Moral of the story? Maybe there isn’t really any bad time to visit McDonald’s. So long as you’re patient.