Check out the ‘6 Fast-Food That Use Refrigerated Burgers’ Burger chain customers have become a more discerning demographic, and for good reason: burger enthusiasts now have a plethora of chains to select from. And many prominent fast-food (and fast-casual) burger chains are now serving burgers that equal the offerings traditionally reserved for sit-down restaurants, including the use of fresh rather than frozen beef.
Many establishments these days promote the use of fresh ground beef, and some even prepare burger patties in-house.
However, many other fast-food burger restaurants have yet to board the fresh meat bandwagon. They may use phrases like “freshly cooked,” “charbroiled,” or “made to order” to try to divert your attention from this fact, but none of those statements infer that the meat didn’t arrive at the restaurant frozen solid, as it does at these franchises.
The 6 Fast-Food That Use Refrigerated Burgers
1. Burger King
Are Burger King’s burgers truly kissed by flame, as depicted in commercials? They do go through burning hot broilers, and the grill scars burned into the patties are genuine. But are they prepared with fresh meat? Nope. According to Business Insider, such burgers are created from frozen patties brought to the eatery.
2. Carl’s Jr.
Many customers adore Carl’s Jr.’s burgers, particularly the seemingly posh ones like the “Steakhouse Angus Thickburger” or the “Big Carl.”
According to a former restaurant manager who spoke on Quora, no matter what burger you order from the chain, it will have started as a frozen patty that was then run through a charbroiler.
Dairy Queen
At Dairy Queen, a variety of items are frozen, in addition to the ice cream and shakes. DQ burgers are cooked in a frozen state despite all the fresh and juicy rhetoric it employs to describe its burgers, such as “savory real beef patties” and “juicy cheeseburger.”
They are then kept in a warming tray until they are required for an order, say former DQ employees who have shared their experiences on Quora.
4. Jack in the Box
The Jack in the Box may want you to believe that its menu is available all day, every day and that it is produced fresh to order regardless of the hour, but the burgers are far from fresh.
“Everything is frozen, so there really isn’t anything that’s ‘fresh,’ unless you count the salads, but the chicken that goes into it is frozen,” a chain employee said on Reddit.
McDonald’s
It comes as no surprise to most people that the world’s largest burger chain uses frozen beef patties. However, some individuals may be caught aback by the news, and these are the folks who were duped by McDonald’s recent promotion of the fresh, never-frozen beef used to manufacture its Quarter Pounders—except in Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. Territories.
According to Eater, McD’s moved to fresh beef for these burgers alone in 2020, and they emphasized the fresh Quarter Pounders loudly.
While nothing had changed with the other burgers, which are created from frozen patties, perhaps the chain hoped for a halo effect that would lead many people to assume all the meat was fresh without McDonald’s stating that claim.
Wendy’s (Some Locations)
What’s going on, you wonder? Isn’t Wendy’s the fast food restaurant brand that incorporates the phrase “fresh, never frozen” into its copy at every opportunity? Yes, Wendy’s does frequently make that claim.
However, take note of the small remark at the bottom of one of their website pages, which is denoted by an asterisk and reads: “Fresh beef available in the contiguous U.S., Alaska, and Canada.” So “fresh, never frozen” Wendy’s burgers aren’t actually served to diners in Hawaii or at international Wendy’s shops.
