Why You Should Stop Customizing Your Order At Restaurants

A professional kitchen should be a finely-tuned machine, efficiently churning out dishes through service. Interruptions to the flow are normal, but too many of them can become arduous and drag the whole process down, and asking for an excessive amount of customizations to your order can be one of the biggest culprits.

To be clear, this doesn't apply to allergies or other dietary restrictions, which should be accommodated as much as possible. But there are good reasons to frown upon custom orders. In some cases, the food as presented holds enough cultural significance that introducing cross-cultural ingredients is frowned upon. This is part of why certain customizations at a Jewish deli can be a faux pas.

Another reason ultimately comes down to money. Restaurants often prepare certain components such as sauces, soups, and starchy sides ahead of time, and making custom versions mid-service can be difficult or even impossible. Restaurant owners cite kitchen slowdowns and, since time is money, higher food and labor costs as a basis for disliking custom orders.

Custom orders are not necessarily a problem at all establishments. Chain restaurants with notable secret menus like In-n-Out couldn't have these famous items without entertaining a certain degree of easy customizations. The assembly line-like kitchens common to fast food and fast casual restaurants make them well-suited for simple customizations like adding or removing burger toppings. And app- or kiosk-based ordering makes communicating a breeze. 

But the existence of a secret menu isn't necessarily a green light to order it. One of the things McDonald's employees want you to be aware of is that they're not trained on the chain's secret menu. If you order a Crunchy Double they won't know what you're talking about, but if you stack a 4-piece order of McNuggets inside a McDouble yourself, you can get a custom order without hassling the kitchen.

Ultimately, the reasons why you shouldn't customize a restaurant order are the same reasons to be considerate at restaurants that do allow or even encourage it. Even a stack of customizations at Taco Bell can cause a kitchen slowdown and inconvenience everybody. And part of being a good customer is being considerate of everyone else at the restaurant.