20 Kitchen Disasters As Shared by Restaurant Workers

Daniel Bonfiglio Published 11/12/2024 in facepalm

Running a restaurant is no easy task. Part of the magic of being a chef is that when you fail, it is pretty obvious. Fast-paced and stressful environments can lead to disaster, and if you've never worked in a restaurant, you know exactly what that looks like.

You can't cry over spilled milk, or in this case, smoothie, at least not with hungry mouths to feed.

Here are 20 real-life kitchen nightmares as shared by the people working in them.

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1.
“Dropped a bucket of house B&B pickles. 15 minutes until close.”
2.
“It’s an hour and 45 min past close.”
3.
“Walked into this disaster at work today. Stacked fresh shredded mozzarella 10 bins high.”
4.
“This was my walk-in freezer on a small ship. One of my crew members dropped a gallon of berry smoothie down the stairs.”
5.
Oil overflow disaster.
6.
“7am, walk in, clock in, this disaster happens right in front of me before I even get my shoes on.”
7.
“One guy’s sick, one’s out of town, one got fired, the other had a legitimate family emergency. We needed this”
8.
“Kitchen life. The joys of restaurant work. Come in to get breakfast ready at 6:00, and walk into this disaster. Gotta love it.”
9.
“Mold in a walk-in.”
10.
“I accidentally dropped my hat in the fryer.”
11.
12.
“Happened to the new kid on line. Dropped the pepper mix, then immediately dropped the sour cream.”
13.
Brett here dropped his juul in the fryer in the middle of the rush. "I'm not mad I have to drop the fryer, I'm mad cause it was a mango pod."
14.
15.
“That one shelf that was a bit wonky decided it wanted some attention.”
16.
“My cooler disaster the other day. That’s gotta be at least $100-$150 worth of food.”
17.
“She dropped 22 quarts of ranch dressing.”
18.
“Dropped something.”
19.
“70 gallons of used fryer oil ended up on the floor.”
20.
“Today I dropped our plastic tongs into the fryer during lunch rush. How did your day go?”

1.
“Dropped a bucket of house B&B pickles. 15 minutes until close.”
2.
“It’s an hour and 45 min past close.”
3.
“Walked into this disaster at work today. Stacked fresh shredded mozzarella 10 bins high.”
4.
“This was my walk-in freezer on a small ship. One of my crew members dropped a gallon of berry smoothie down the stairs.”
5.
Oil overflow disaster.
6.
“7am, walk in, clock in, this disaster happens right in front of me before I even get my shoes on.”
7.
“One guy’s sick, one’s out of town, one got fired, the other had a legitimate family emergency. We needed this”
8.
“Kitchen life. The joys of restaurant work. Come in to get breakfast ready at 6:00, and walk into this disaster. Gotta love it.”
9.
“Mold in a walk-in.”
10.
“I accidentally dropped my hat in the fryer.”
11.
12.
“Happened to the new kid on line. Dropped the pepper mix, then immediately dropped the sour cream.”
13.
Brett here dropped his juul in the fryer in the middle of the rush. "I'm not mad I have to drop the fryer, I'm mad cause it was a mango pod."
14.
15.
“That one shelf that was a bit wonky decided it wanted some attention.”
16.
“My cooler disaster the other day. That’s gotta be at least $100-$150 worth of food.”
17.
“She dropped 22 quarts of ranch dressing.”
18.
“Dropped something.”
19.
“70 gallons of used fryer oil ended up on the floor.”
20.
“Today I dropped our plastic tongs into the fryer during lunch rush. How did your day go?”