An ex-Wetherspoons employee has shared some secrets behind the popular pub chain and its extensive menu.
The former employee worked at one of the branches while he was at university and has shared which dishes on the menu should be avoided and how some of the popular dishes are prepared.
Wetherspoons has become a fixture of British pub culture with more than 805 pub locations in the UK.
Founded by Tim Martin, the pubs offer affordable drinks and food in some of the UK’s most popular locations.
The former staff member, who took to Reddit to share his experience, claimed members of staff do get a free meal when they work more than seven hours.
However, he also claimed a lot of the food is deep-fried or microwaved in advance of being served to customers.
Posting as u/Itsdarkinhere11, the ex-Wetherspoons worker claimed the burger patties “come in a packet as you’d get at Tesco” and are not made completely from scratch but are cooked on a proper grill.
The former employee, who reportedly worked at the branch for five years, said the burgers, steaks, paninis, and pizzas are all made as good as made “from scratch”, while the fish is “battered fresh”.
While some people claim the bacon is microwaved, it’s actually cooked fresh along with fried eggs. However, scrambled and poached eggs are cooked “in the micro”.
He continued: “The pizza is decent in my opinion, and the curries aren’t bad for being microwaved. I’d avoid the steaks, I never ate one but always thought they looked awful.”
When it comes to the burgers, the former employee said the beef ones are “cooked fresh” and are “not bad” considering how affordable they are.
However, he added: “Gets a bit dicier when you start going for chicken or veggie or vegan in my opinion.”
Another Reddit user, who goes by u/dreinar, claimed the “most decent food” is the fish and steaks. They said: “In my kitchen food comes in three times a week pre-portioned.
“The most decent food I’d say is fish and steak, which we cook from scratch (fish comes in frozen, we batter it. Steak comes in vacuum packed but we season and prepare it). Salads are done from scratch as well.”
Eddie Gershon, from the Wetherspoon PR team, told the Mirror that the fish is “battered every day” and the pizzas and paninis are made fresh to order.
He also said the curries are bespoke to Wetherspoons, are delivered frozen and then heated in the microwave.
Breakfasts “for the majority of the time” are cooked to order, however, during busy periods some items are pre-cooked and held for a limited amount of time so customers can be served quickly.
Eddie added: “Our poached eggs are pre-poached to ensure the quality of the product is consistent for the customer.”
He continued: “A small percentage of our dishes, by volume sold, are microwaved. Most high-volume products such as burgers and steaks are grilled and a number of other meals such as pizzas and jacket potatoes are oven cooked.
“Wetherspoon’s top three cooking methods are (in order): 1. Grilling (‘clam’ or flat grill OR ‘char’ grill), 2. Frying, 3. Oven-cooking.”
