Former McDonald’s Employee Goes Viral After Revealing That New Bundle ‘Deals’ Are Actually A Rip Off: ‘You’re Paying For Packaging’

After McDonald’s got rid of the dollar menu last year, you might’ve noticed that combo meals or value meals are a lot more common on the menu. You might’ve just come in for a McDouble and some French fries, but when they bundle together those two items and add a soft drink and some Chicken McNuggets for just a few dollars more, it might seem like a great deal. However, a former McDonald’s employee just revealed that this is actually a scam. Keep reading for more information.

Chef Mike Haracz, a former McDonald’s corporate chef, took to TikTok to share some insider secrets about the fast food chain, explaining that those bundles of value items aren’t as good as a deal as you might think.

“A lot of it comes down to math,” he explains. “If you think about these bundles, you’re usually getting four items, two that are a little more premium and two that are a lot cheaper. For instance, a small fry at McDonald’s, which has the benefit of scale costs McDonald’s peanuts.”

“If they sold that for a dollar itself,” he continued, “they would make a whole lot of money. Same with the small beverage. The cup costs more than the drink—you’re basically buying packaging.”

“But when you get to a four-piece chicken nugget, that is where they’re starting to have more traditional profit on their sales,” Chef Mike says. “And then there’s the premium item, the McDouble or the McChicken. They’re not making as much money on it. So they’re bundling these things together so that you might be ordering things you normally wouldn’t—like the small fry or the small drink—and that is where the math balances out.”