We’ve all sat in the drive-thru at McDonald’s, hoping for hot food and plenty of condiments. Sometimes you open your bag and it includes everything you could want: multiple sauces, a pile of napkins, and fries spilling over the carton. Other times you need to ask for sauce, and, depending on the location, you will either be handed more sauce than you could possibly use or you get one to two measly little packets for your trouble. Now, some customers have to navigate a “‘sauce policy” that strictly limits the number of free sauces.
In a video generating more than 639,000 views on TikTok, Georgia-based user Rebekah Hollar (@bekahhollar) shows new rules taped to the drive-thru window. The 6-second clip shows the sign as Hollar laughs and says, “Welcome to America, where we have a sauce policy.” A yellow piece of laminated paper reads: “4 pc-1 Sauce, 6 pc. 1-Sauce, 10 pc. 2-Sauce, 20 pc. 4-Sauce.”
@bekahhollar This is absurd 😂
♬ original sound – rebekah hollar
The video sparked a conversation about sauce policies at multiple McDonald’s. Comments include:
“The McDonald’s near my apartment started charging for sauces bruh.”
“Here its 3 for a 20 pc.”
“This has been the policy since I worked at McDonald’s…and that was 6-7 years ago lol and they always are suppose to charge but a lot don’t.”
“Bro the McDonald’s close to me charges you 15 cents if you ask for sauce at the pay window…50 cents at the 2nd window.”
“I’ve never been given 4 for my 20 piece. Granted I only need 3 tops but I like to have extra for when they forget.”
“At the McDonald’s I work at we don’t have that and will give you however many you want as long as it’s reasonable.”
Many McDonald’s are owned by franchisees and it can explain the different policies at different locations. Though the rising costs associated with a fast food meal infuriated many, others pointed out that a sauce policy has been around for awhile.
“They like to pretend giving out sauces vastly affects their profits while they habitually underpay workers and have 7.5 billion in net income.”
“McDonald’s is the only place I’ve ever seen do this. Once I went to Taco Bell and they gave me 15 sauce packets and I didn’t even ask for any sauce.”
“You know it’s supposed to cost extra for sauces? Like, they’re not free to make.”
“It’s always been like that, but the customers think otherwise.”
“Our store goes thru so much sweet and sour that we run out 2 days before we get truck. We charge for sauces bc people will want 20 sauces.”
As McDonald’s workers everywhere prep for ice cream season, all eyes turn to the looming release of the Big Mac sauce in standalone containers. It’s a buzzy offering sure to test many nugget policies.
The Daily Dot reached out to Rebekah Hollar via TikTok comment and McDonald’s via email.
