Burger King employee Colton Kerbs (@coltonkerbs8) uploaded a video of his unique sauce fulfillment protocol on TikTok. His video, which accrued over 2.4 million views on the app, left users in stitches, but also sparked grumbles over sauce surcharges.
In the clip, we see Kerbs stationed at the BK drive-thru window. Patrons inside of the car record him throughout the 8-second clip, and there’s a stack of three sauces resting on the sill of the window. “Dairy Queen charges 50 cents per sauce packet,” one person in the car says to Kerbs.
This revelation causes the employee to inaudibly gasp, dropping his jaw for what feels like an inordinate amount of time. One person in the back seat of the car laughs, asking for their “sauce please.” Next, the Burger King employee obliges, taking one of the sauce containers and throwing it to the person recording the video.
His launch is a direct hit, slamming perfectly into the lens with a thud.
Commenters were cracking up
Several people who responded to the video thought the exchange was hilarious. “The DIRECT hit is sending me,” one wrote.
Another remarked, “He is how I aim to live my life.”
There were others who shared their own fast food sauce requests in the comments as well. “My husband once asked for ‘an absurd amount of hot sauce’ from Taco Bell. And the girl legit FILLED a paper carryout bag with hot sauce packets. It’s been 4 years and we still have some left in that bag.”
Others were just shocked by the accuracy of the Burger King worker’s sauce throwing arm. “Why did I flinch?!”
However, another viewer said DQ charged them even more per sauce. “It’s a dollar at my dairy queen.” Moreover, they appended a broken heart emoji to indicate just how upset they were over this surcharge.
Additionally, one viewer speculated about the nature of the video’s interaction. “The throw I can’t. That’s me to my coworkers that come in when they’re off and I’m working.”
And then there was another TikTok user who griped about paying for extra sauce, only for it to be left out of their order.
Charging for sauces
Although the practice of charging for sauces at fast food establishments has been going on for years, it doesn’t seem universal. In the case of McDonald’s, the world’s largest fast food franchise, it appears this practice varies from franchise to franchise.
That’s according to this one viral r/AskReddit post where a user on the app asked when Mickey D’s began “charging for sauce.” While there were several people in the comments section who voiced their ire with this decision, some said it wasn’t a ubiquitous practice. “‘McDonald’s’ doesn’t charge for sauce. It’s a decision individual franchisees can choose to do. It’s not a corporate policy,” one penned.
Moreover, responses from other Redditors varied. One said, “wait what?” intoning that they’ve never once been charged for sauce. Another user on the application said, “since forever in Europe,” indicating that this could be a regional practice.
As noted by the individual in Kerbs’ video, there were also some Dairy Queen customers miffed about having to pay for sauce, like this one Trip Advisor reviewer who uploaded their assessment of a Wichita, Kansas location. They gave a one-star marking of the restaurant, expressing several grievances they had with the location.
The title of their review was: “tried charging for dipping sauce.” Following this, they shared other gripes: “expensive ice cream cones. Could not believe we never got a dipping sauce for breaded mushrooms. And they wanted to charge us 32 cents.”
@coltonkerbs8 ♬ original sound – Colton Kerbs
Why the fee?
According to a NY Post article that referenced former Mickey D’s cook Josiah Lapis about the practice, this practice is to prevent “sauce assault.” I.e., customers who abuse the complimentary sauce system and load up on the packets.
The piece pointed to a Quora forum post where the ex-worker dished out on the sauce ring-ups. “The main reason we charged for extra packets is to prevent abuse. It’s fair to assume that two packets of sauce are enough for a six-pack of nuggets, right? If you need more than that, then what the heck are you doing with the nuggets?”
Additionally, Lapis explained that workers aren’t prevented from giving out packets for free. In fact, they’re able to hand them out at their discretion. A 4 or 6 pack of nuggets comes with one sauce packet with no charge. The more nuggets you have, the more sauce containers you’ll get as a customer.
Moreover, he explained that this practice was done to ultimately save the restaurant money. For every 20 sauce packets they save, they have to order one less box of sauce. After a while, all of the free sauces being doled out to various customers adds up.
In another Quora discussion on the same topic, one commenter echoed Lapis’ sentiments. “I’ve worked in lots of restaurants. If extra sauces are free, there’s no limit to the amount people will ask for. Sauces are not free. They are often very expensive. Meals should include a reasonable amount, but additional sauces don’t have to be included.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Dairy Queen and Burger King via email, and Kerbs via TikTok comment for further information.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
