A TikTok account dedicated to showing people what happens behind the scenes at Jack in the Box walked through the steps behind making a chicken teriyaki bowl—which, according to the video, includes a whole lot of microwaving.
The video comes from the @guessthejack TikTok account, which focuses largely on how individual Jack in the Box items are made. This particular one went up on the platform on Feb. 3, collecting more than half a million views since being published.
Set to “Me Porto Bonito” by Bad Bunny and Chencho Corleone, the video shows an employee putting gloves on, getting the component parts of the dish out of various fridges, before microwaving the ingredients and assembling them into a plastic container.
@guessthejack #fyp #fypシ #foryou #foryoupage #jackinthebox #chickenteriyaki #chickenteriyakibowl ♬ Me Porto Bonito – Bad Bunny & Chencho Corleone
A number of commenters simply couldn’t believe that this dish required so much microwaving and so relatively little human interaction.
One commenter summed up the outrage by remarking, “So I pay 10$ for a microwaveable meal?”
Another, wryly observing the number of door handles involved in the making of the chicken teriyaki bowl, cracked, “They put on gloves just to touch all the handles.”
At least one user said that this method diverged somewhat from the chicken teriyaki bowls they knew, noting, “I worked at 2 jacks and we had giant rice cookers so at least that wasn’t microwaved lol.”
That comment led the creator to pop in and make a back-in-the-day comment, saying, “Yess we used to have one too but they got rid of it a few years back.”
At least one commenter didn’t like it any less despite seeing how it was made. “I order this often … could do it at home but i just prefer the [Jack in the Box] one,” they said.
Another simply wrote, “Imma still order it.”
Some, though, wondered why anyone would go to Jack in the Box to get these particular items, with one person claiming it’s possible to get six bowls like this for $15 at Costco.
One, registering disappointment (though perhaps sarcastically), noted, “damn… [eye roll emoji] I thought there was a real chef prepping my bowl.”
The creator responded, with crying emojis, “But I am a real chef.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the TikTok creator and to Jack in the Box via email for comment.
