How The World’s Biggest Batches Of Food Are Made | Big Batches Season 2 Marathon | Insider Food

From hand rolling 100,000 bagels every week in New York City to feeding 100,000 people at the Gurudwara Bangla Sahib temple in India, we traveled the globe to uncover the amazing stories behind the world’s biggest batches of food. Our first stop is Utopia Bagels in Whitestone, New York. Narrator: This 200-pound mountain of dough will soon be hand-rolled into 1,000 bagels — just a small fraction of the 100,000 bagels made at this shop every week. Workers start the baking process at 3 a.m. and c

ontinue way past lunch hours. But according to owner Scott Spellman, the guarantee of a fresh, hot bagel is why Utopia Bagels stands out from the thousands of other stores across New York City. Scott: I say it time and time again. You may have tried a bagel, but once you try my bagel, you will not eat another bagel. Narrator: We visited Utopia's kitchen in Queens, New York, to see how it prepares its bagels in such big batches. It all starts with a 41-year-old dough recipe that uses barley malt.

Scott: It's a really old-school way of doing a bagel. Most stores that make bagels today use brown sugar. But to make a good-quality bagel, you need this ingredient. Narrator: Next, they add salt and a large scoop of Puratos bagel improver. Scott: So, what that does, it softens the dough inside and it crisps the crust outside. Narrator: Then they start filling the mixer with New York City tap water. But it has to be at just the right temperature. Scott: We tend to use water that's around 60 deg

rees, 62, 63. But temperatures of the water may change when it's hotter and colder throughout the year. Narrator: Then it's time to add in 200 pounds of all-purpose flour, a small portion compared to what they have on hand. Scott: You're looking at about 7,000 pounds of flour. Almost a two-day amount for us that we'll go through all this flour. And this is actually just one of my mountains of flour. Narrator: The final ingredient is yeast. But for flavored bagels, the recipe may change slightly

to include eggs, sugar, or freeze-dried blueberries, depending on the flavor. There is no set time for when the dough is finished mixing. According to Scott, it takes a keen eye and years of experience. Scott: It's a thing called "when it's ready." [laughs] How long have you been making bagels? 18 years. Scott: 18 years. Daniel's been rolling 18 years. It takes understanding the temperature in the air. It takes understanding his machine that he works with, how long it should mix. All these thing

s are such important factors about what happens with our bagel. Narrator: Once the dough reaches the desired consistency, it's cut into sections and transferred over to the rolling table, where it's then formed into one large mound. Scott: We can make up to 15,000 bagels in a day. And this'll make approximately 1,000 bagels. Narrator: They cover the entire thing with a plastic sheet to help soften the dough before rolling. Scott: And it's only about a five-minute process that allows that dough t

o connect a little better with each other. They're saying, "Hello, how are you?" All those ingredients are basically doing that right now. Narrator: At any given point, there are four expert rollers on hand. These skilled men have between 15 and 27 years of experience perfecting their craft — something Scott says is a "dying breed." Scott: There's not a school of rolling bagels out there right now. And these people are experts at their field. Listen, I think Derek Jeter said it best. If you put

10,000 hours into something, you're a professional. And Daniel has definitely put 10,000 hours into it. Narrator: It takes an hour to an hour and a half for these hand-rollers to individually slice, roll, and twist about 1,000 bagels. Scott: It takes a certain type of character, because it's very tedious. You're cutting the same thing over and over. And I can tell who is rolling what bagel by the way they lock their bagel and form it together. Daniel has that little lip here that I noticed about

Daniel's rolling. Then I can see, those were Daniel's bagels. And it gives each bagel their own personality. Our bagels are like snowflakes. Every one is individually different, and that's what makes it special. Narrator: Once the bagels are rolled, they're placed on these racks, covered with plastic, and left to proof for a half hour. They then move into one of three fridges to ferment for at least 24 hours. Scott: What we're gonna do now is open these bagels up, 'cause we still have to reduce

the heat to stop the rising of these bagels. We tend to stop the proofing, where a lot of places tend to expand their proofing so their bagels are bigger. There's a misconception that bigger bagels are better. And they're not, by far. As you see, each rack has approximately 1,000 bagels. So you're looking at 10,000, 15,000 bagels right before your eyes. And this is only one of my fridges that we keep the bagels. Here's my second fridge. Again, you have racks of bagels. One, two, three, four. We

have close to 7,000, 8,000 more bagels. So this is basically where we'll keep our everyday making of the bagels. Now it's time for fun and games. We're going to start baking some bagels. We'll always have two people working the oven. So there's a kettleman, which we'll call him. So he'll control the flow of the bagels into the kettle. And then there's the guy on the oven that'll be his director. But the kettle is the ultimate guy in control, because he knows when that bagel's ready to come out

of that kettle. It's so important. Narrator: Once the bagels have been properly boiled, they're scooped over to boards that have been pre-seasoned with the appropriate flavors, such as poppy, sesame, or the very popular everything mix. Scott: Now, are these hot? Yes, they are very hot. But if you watch me, I'm constantly dipping my hand in water to remove some of that heat. Now, this again is where we put on both sides. So we're seasoning both boards, both sides. Narrator: After workers careful

ly coat each bagel, they move the boards into the oven. Scott: Now, why we're putting them on boards, because if we put these bagels in straight, they would stick to the slate that they're being cooked on. We put six bagels on a board. There's 16 boards that'll go into the oven. And we have a Middleby Marshall. A 1947 oven! It is the heart and soul of my business. We're able to produce up to 1,000 bagels an hour on it. Narrator: After a few rotations around the oven, the boards are flipped so th

e bottom of the bagels can cook evenly. Then they're ready to be pulled and served to customers. Scott: See, these are so, look at the color on these bagels. Look at that beautiful crisp crust. My son always does the knock test. Feel that crisp crust. Look at that steam coming out of that bagel. Narrator: In total, Utopia Bagels offers 30 kinds of bagels and various sandwiches, like the bacon, egg, and cheese or the classic lox. 43 staff members make up Utopia Bagels, and they all work like a we

ll-oiled machine to serve the 3,500 customers who visit the shop every week. Scott: We're busiest on the weekend, Saturday and Sunday. We could have a line lasting for eight hours straight. But you get me crying about my customers, 'cause our fan base is like none other. It's like a landmark. Everybody's been coming here for over 50 years. It's like a home place for everybody. It's the atmosphere, it's the people, it's the owner. Everybody's so nice here. And when you come in, you feel welcomed.

Everything is good. I've been around to other bagel stores, but there's no place like home. Scott treats you like family when you come here. Utopia Bagels is the best. Scott: The most important thing about our bagels is right here. And I get emotional about it, but it's the heart and soul. Every worker here has heart and soul. It truly is something I live for and something we work at. My passion for making people smile with our food and what we produce is a joy for me. It really is. Oh, yeah, t

hose are the everything bagels coming out. Look at those colors. Narrator: This is the Gurudwara Bangla Sahib temple in New Delhi, India. Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the temple's kitchen, or langar, feeds 35,000 to 40,000 people every day for free. And on religious holidays, that number can swell to well over 100,000 people. At the heart of this entire operation is kitchen manager Harbhej Singh, who makes sure there is always enough to eat. Narrator: To keep up with demand, the kitchen

uses specialized machines that can do everything from chopping vegetables and stirring stews to steaming the perfect dal. We visited the temple during a special holiday called Gurupurab to see how it makes a festive meal in such big batches. The day begins with making a type of sweet rice pudding called kheer, which is a special menu addition for Gurupurab. At the helm of the operation is head chef Balbir Singh, who's been overseeing this process for years. Narrator: Large bags of white rice ar

e poured into metal bowls and washed by hand. 25 kilograms of the washed rice is then scooped into a massive pot of water and mixed by a mechanical arm. Narrator: Once the pot has been filled with milk and it starts to boil, they pour in a large bag of wheat flour. Narrator: During the pandemic, the kitchen found itself needing to make more food with less staff. The solution was to introduce pots that could automatically stir and cook most dishes in half the time. Narrator: While the kitchen has

embraced technology for cooking, many of the vegetables the kitchen uses are still processed by hand. One of the most popular dishes the community kitchen makes is aloo matar, a curry dish made with potatoes, peas, and a creamy tomato sauce. Making this dish begins with heating vegetable oil in a pot as a base for the tadka. Narrator: This is followed by baskets of potatoes, peas, and large ladles of tomato puree. Narrator: When the dish is ready, chefs tip the pot and scrape everything out. An

other curry dish the kitchen serves for the holiday feast is kadhi chawal, which is made with a base of cumin, masala, and dried fenugreek leaves. When the base is mixed, chefs add gram flour and hung curd. Narrator: While the kadhi mixes, chefs prepare the final part of the dish on the side. They mix spinach, onions, gram flour, and spices in a large pot to make pakodas, or fritters. When they achieve the right consistency, the mix is then tossed into a wok and fried quickly. These fritters are

then added into the curry. Narrator: Next up, the kitchen is making aloo gobi, a simple vegetarian dish made with potatoes and cauliflower. It starts with a tadka base of cumin, turmeric, and chili powder. Then the chefs add in baskets of cauliflower and potatoes. They mix everything together to evenly coat the veggies and continue stirring until they're finished cooking. An everyday staple on the langar's menu is fresh dal, or split lentils. Green, yellow, and brown lentils are all washed by h

and daily and added into a pot full of water. The lentils are then seasoned with salt, chili powder, and turmeric and covered. Narrator: Across the kitchen, flatbreads are made using machines. Narrator: While these machines make a majority of the bread the langar uses, there is another area of the kitchen dedicated to making these breads by hand. This is done so people can practice seva, or selfless service, a tenet of Sikhism. Narrator: The langar officially opens its doors at 5 a.m. to serve f

ood. Narrator: Because of the kitchen's popularity, it's not uncommon for people to wait 2 ½ hours outside to get a free meal. Inside the dining hall, visitors take their seats side by side in long rows known as pangats. This style of seating is an important part of the temple's philosophy of promoting equality and ending discrimination. Narrator: Once everyone is seated, volunteers known as sevadaars lead a religious chant in honor of the guru. Then the servers come around spooning large portio

ns of food into metal plates. And while the amount of food one can eat is unlimited, there is a rule that not a single bite of food can be wasted. So plates must be clean before finishing the meal. Narrator: When a batch of guests has finished eating, workers sweep and wash the floors before another group is allowed to enter. Narrator: Every week, these three chefs make 10,000 meals by hand. Working 10-hour shifts, the chefs use specialized cast-iron and steel pots that can cook 800 servings at

a time. Today, the kitchen is making 1,200 mapo tofu lunch boxes. And every meal comes with rice, crab egg soup, chili japchae, pickled radishes, cucumber and chive salad, stir-fried garlic scapes, and Chinese flower buns. It's a tall order but worth the effort, according to head chef Lee Ho-jun. Narrator: We visited Mugga Dosirak to see how this kitchen prepares its lunch boxes in such big batches. The process begins at 4:30 a.m., when Ho-jun and his team start prepping ingredients for the day'

s menu. Chefs begin by washing and cutting 40 kilograms of white onions and 20 kilograms of green onions for the mapo tofu. Narrator: Next, carrots are peeled, cut, and added into the same container as the white onions. Once the vegetables are prepped, it's time to start unpacking the tofu. Narrator: The tofu is cut into cubes and loaded into metal trays, which are then wheeled into a large steamer. Narrator: While the tofu is steaming, chefs start cooking the other ingredients for the dish in a

large cast-iron wok. They add red-pepper oil and stir-fry the green onions and 10 kilograms of pork together until the meat cooks through. Chefs then add in the basket of white onions and carrots as well as large ladles of doubanjiang, a savory Chinese bean paste made from fermented broad beans, chili peppers, and soybean. They season the mixture and add ladles of starch water to help adjust the consistency. Finally, once the tofu is done, it's drained and mixed into the wok using a metal shove

l. Narrator: And that's not the only thing that's custom in the kitchen. Chefs use a special machine that supplies and drains water to wash about 120 kilograms of rice at a time. Narrator: The next order of business is making chili japchae. Narrator: While the japchae cooks, chefs start prepping the cucumber and wild chive salad. 40 kilograms of cucumbers are sliced before being pickled. Narrator: Next, the kitchen prepares crab egg soup. Narrator: For dessert, the chefs are reheating flower bun

s. Narrator: Once fried, the buns will be drizzled with condensed milk and topped with almonds. When everything is cooked, employees fill small individual containers with rice and crab egg soup and scoop portions of the other six dishes into a divided tray. Each of these lunch boxes costs 30,000 won, or about $5. After 10 hours of cooking and packaging, the lunch boxes are then put into insulated containers and delivered to offices around the city that have subscriptions. Narrator: This restaura

nt preps, packs, and roasts hundreds of kilos of meat every day to make delicious döner. Peçenek Döner in Turkey has been serving its namesake dish for over 45 years. Across three branches in Ankara, the restaurant chain can prepare up to 1.5 tonnes of meat every single day to feed over 1,500 customers. We visited one of its kitchens to see how cooks prepare döner in such big batches. It starts with the meat, which owner Kazim Peçenek sources specifically from the hind legs of dairy calves from

the Kızılcahamam district in Ankara. Narrator: Kitchen staff use these special knives that are thin and long to slice the large portions of meat into thin, flat pieces. Narrator: Workers fill this entire table with meat, then salt it and cover it with the house marinade. Narrator: They massage the meat to make sure each piece is generously coated. Once they've finished the marinade process, they neatly pack the seasoned slabs of meat into these metal containers. They cover the meat in plastic an

d move it to the fridge, where it rests for two days for the flavors to meld and the meat to tenderize. Once the meat is fully rested, it's time to start assembling the shish. The process starts at 9 a.m., and it takes about two hours for cooks to stack around 250 kilos of meat. For extra flavor and richness, they also add layers of tail fat. Narrator: Throughout the stacking process, workers repeatedly push down on the layers to keep air out and shave off the outer pieces of meat to shape the d

öner into an inverted cone. These shavings get added back into the stack with the tail fat, so nothing is wasted. For the final layer, workers flatten the remaining tail fat into a sheet that perfectly covers the top of the stack. Then it's time to light the broiler and let the döner cook for four to five hours. Narrator: The lunch rush usually lasts from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. In this hour-and-a-half span, the restaurant serves 500 to 600 customers. Narrator: Because of döner's special cooking me

thod, orders can be ready in as little as five minutes. Narrator: The restaurant cooks a new, separate döner for the evening rush. While this ensures the freshness that customers value, it also caters to customers' varying preferences of the döner. Narrator: Döner has existed in different forms and under various names in the Middle East for ages. But the ready-to-cut vertical version we see today is believed to have been created in the mid-19th century in Bursa, Turkey, by İskender Efendi. The d

öner kebab is not Turkey's national dish, but it is among the countries' most popular foods. Every day, 900,000 kilograms of traditional kebab is eaten across the country. And although rice and salad are some of the most common additions to this popular street food across the world, according to Kazim ... Narrator: Peçenek Döner makes its lavash with a simple dough recipe of white flour, salt, yeast, and water. Once it's been properly mixed, the pieces are shaped, flattened, topped with an egg

-yolk marinade, and finally cooked in a stone oven heated by a wood fire. Each lavash is timed so that it bakes in the same time frame as the döner. Narrator: Once the lavash is cut and plated, cooks top the slices with 140 grams of döner and sivri biber, a grilled spicy pepper that is traditionally served with roast or grilled meat throughout Turkey. Small plates of sumac onions and fresh salad are also served as sides or additional toppings. Narrator: By the end of the meal, many customers are

still hungry for dessert. Narrator: The recipe for Peçenek Döner's rice pudding, also known as sutlac, took four months to perfect. It starts with the milk from Jersey cows, which is boiled with sugar and Osmancik rice for over two hours to reach this thick, creamy consistency. Narrator: Cooks bake the pudding in a water bath inside the same wood-fired oven used for lavash. Narrator: This megakitchen in Japan carefully prepares 3,000 school meals every day. Since 1967, the Musashino City School

Lunch & Dietary Education Promotion Foundation has been cooking these meals to promote healthy eating habits among young children. Narrator: We visited its kitchen, Sakura Zutsumi Cookhouse, to see how these lunches are made in such big batches. The day's preparation starts around 7:30 each morning. Staff members change into sanitized factory shoes and color-coded uniforms and wash their hands twice before entering the kitchen. This is Takagi. He is the nutritionist in charge of the menu, and h

e's our tour guide for the day. Narrator: The kitchen is spread across three floors and spans three-quarters the area of an American football field. Inside, 70 staff members break into small units, working in unison to prep, cook, and package all of these meals in just under four hours. Narrator: Today's meal consists of millet rice, miso soup, sticky shumai dumplings, cabbage and mustard sauté, and milk. Takagi plans each meal three months in advance, so the team has enough time to source all o

f the ingredients and account for students' allergies. Every menu item he adds is tailored to fit the nutritional needs of different age groups, so every student gets the most nutritious meal they can possibly have. Narrator: This massive pot is large enough to cook 750 kilograms of soup at a time. The base of the broth is made by boiling thick slices of dried bonito and Rausu kelp in water. Narrator: Most of the staff who work here are mothers of students. And many of them take great pride in k

nowing that the food is made with care and nutritional and healthy ingredients. Narrator: One of the most popular items the kitchen makes is shumai. Here, 15 staff members use 180 kilograms of ground pork, 40 kilograms of soybeans, and a variety of blended vegetables to make around 200 shumai by hand. And by the end of the shift, they'll make about 3,000 shumai. Narrator: On top of monitoring allergies, the kitchen is diligent about food safety. Some of the meat used to fill the shumai is always

saved and monitored for bacterial growth. Narrator: Besides safety, the kitchen prioritizes using fresh, organic, and local ingredients. Narrator: To make the rice, the kitchen uses six giant pots. Narrator: In total, 250 kilograms of rice will be made in a very short period of time using a special process. Narrator: And finally, this is the main cooking area, where the cabbage and mustard sauté is made. 140 kilograms of the washed cabbage is boiled before getting sautéed with komatsuna leaf an

d carrots. Narrator: Once all of the food is cooked, meals are portioned into thermal containers and loaded into five delivery trucks. Narrator: All of the ingredients used are funded by the students' families, who pay school-lunch fees. Each meal costs about 340 yen, or roughly $2.50, for middle-school students, and about 240 to 280 yen for elementary students. Narrator: This deg, or cauldron, located at the Ajmer Sharif Dargah in Rajasthan, India, is one of the largest in the world. Donated by

Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1567, the deg measures 37 feet wide and was made in such a way that the rim never gets hot, even while the fire is ignited and the food is being cooked. Here, volunteers are making 4,800 kilograms of a sweet rice dish called zarda to feed the 20,000 to 25,000 devotees who visit the shrine each day. Keeping a watchful eye over the cooking process is Syed Mujahid Ahmed Chishti, who is also in charge of tending to the devotees. Narrator: We visited the shrine to see how the

y make this sweet prasad in such big batches. Before any food is made, volunteers must empty the cauldron of donations left by pilgrims, which could include money, rice, lentils, or other groceries that the temple can use to make the prasad. Then it's time to start cooking. Making this dish is time-intensive and begins by lighting a wood fire underneath the deg. There are four openings around the deg, and 50 kilograms of wood is kept at each one to keep the fire going strong. The devotees who ha

ve sponsored that day's meal then gather around the cauldron to help with the dish's preparation. First, they fill the cauldron with 4,000 liters of water. They also add jugs of saffron water and rose water, which help add a depth of flavor to the finished dish. Narrator: Once the mixture starts to boil, volunteers carry bags of sugar up to the cauldron platform and pour them inside. Then it's time to stir the mixture, which is easier said than done. Since the deg measures 37 feet wide and 15 fe

et deep, it takes at least four volunteers to maneuver a large wooden oar. Two people push and pull on the wooden handle while across the cauldron, two people use ropes that are attached to the bottom. They move in tandem with each other to establish a rhythm. Volunteers then add in over 1,100 kilograms of rice and multiple cans of ghee. They continue to stir the mixture until it thickens and reaches a smooth consistency. Narrator: Dry fruits and nuts like cashews, almonds, and pistachios are ad

ded as a final touch before the dish is ready to be served. Narrator: That volunteer will wear special shoe covers that are cleaned before each meal. They scoop the rice with buckets and pass them along a line to fill large steel barrels. Once these are full, volunteers scoop the sweet prasad into small bowls and hand them out to hungry pilgrims. Narrator: The deg and the tomb both have an incredible history. Narrator: But the cauldron is only filled to capacity on special occasions or when the

number of devotees at the dargah is very high. On most days, the temple uses a second, smaller cauldron known as the choti deg, which was donated by Akbar's son Jehangir in 1613. Yet, regardless of which cauldron is used, thousands of pilgrims visit this sacred site every day to eat the prasad and seek the blessings of the saint. Narrator: During the month of Ramadan, this kitchen runs 24 hours a day, mashing goat, chilies, spices, and ghee into a thick and creamy stew known as haleem. For 25 ye

ars, Mohammed Abdul Majeed and his sons have been running Pista House, a popular chain known for making this dish on massive scales. Narrator: Haleem is popularly consumed by Muslims in Hyderabad during Ramadan, who often break their daily fast with this high-protein and calorically rich dish. But that doesn't mean it's exclusive. Narrator: We visited Pista House's central kitchen to see how it makes haleem in such big batches. The day begins with unloading and weighing all of the vegetables. Na

rrator: Mountains of onions, green chilies, and garlic are peeled by hand. The onions are then grated through machines, while the garlic is mashed into a paste. On the other side of the kitchen, hundreds of goats are wheeled into a large room and chopped into smaller pieces. Narrator: Every pot is filled with 100 liters of water followed by 100 kilograms of goat and 9 ½ kilograms of green chilies. Once filled, the pots are covered and left to boil for five to six hours. Then the lids are removed

and a mixture of cilantro, basmati rice, and the ginger-garlic paste that was prepared earlier is poured inside. Once that has cooked through, a huge pot of soaked wheat flour is added. Narrator: Keeping a consistent temperature and constantly stirring the mixture are two of the biggest challenges when making haleem. Narrator: Once the flour is mixed, it's time for the spices. Narrator: After the masala is added, they seal the pots for steaming, which allows the flavors to be completely absorbe

d. Narrator: Next is the most physically demanding part of the cooking process, smashing the haleem. Workers pour large bags of ghee into the pots and use wooden sledgehammers to smash the haleem for 30 minutes in a process called ghota. Each of these hammers weighs 17 pounds, making this strenuous work. Narrator: When the mixture reaches a smoother consistency, they add lentil paste and continue mashing for another 15 to 20 minutes. Finally, it's topped with boiled ghee, then scooped into therm

al containers and wheeled to another room, where its weighed and loaded onto delivery trucks. At every Pista House location, haleem is served in to-go containers, and always with toppings. Narrator: Arab merchants are believed to have introduced haleem to India under the name harees sometime during the 17th century. Narrator: While haleem is exclusively cooked during Ramadan, many locals who are not Muslim enjoy it just as much, and many of the people who buy this haleem have been doing so for y

ears. Narrator: This team of bakers makes around 1,200 trays of baklava every week. And master chef Mehmet Akincioglu has to pay careful attention to every step of the process. Narrator: We visited Akincioglu Baklava to see how it makes its baklava in such big batches. The day begins at 5 a.m. making the daily dough. Hard wheat flour, water, eggs, and salt are added into a mechanical mixer and combined for 20 to 25 minutes. Once soft, the dough is taken out, cut, weighed, and kneaded into small

discs that are left to rest for another 20 to 25 minutes. Narrator: The discs are loaded into the dough sheeter and run back and forth to flatten and elongate them. Narrator: Here, chefs roll 10 to 15 sheets of dough at a time and generously coat them in starch so they don't stick together. Narrator: Every sheet of dough is rolled until it's paper-thin. Narrator: The thinly rolled dough is then brought to a table to fill each pan. Narrator: Next, a mountain of special Boz pistachios is added int

o the tray. Narrator: All of the pistachios Mehmet uses are harvested locally and picked within 10 to 15 days of sprouting. Narrator: The pistachios are topped with another 15 to 20 layers of dough before they are taken to the slicing section. Here, Mehmet and his team add the final layers of dough to the top of the baklava and laminate each layer with melted butter. As with the pistachios, Mehmet carefully selects his butter from sheep that have been grazing on mountain plants. To retain its fl

avor, the butter is melted with steam. Narrator: Once the last layer of dough is applied, bakers cut the excess and slice strips across the tray. Then they coat the tray in another layer of butter and cut it again into its famous diamond shape. The baklava is now ready to bake. Mehmet uses a traditional stone oven filled with oak wood to cook the baklava. Narrator: Each tray bakes for 25 to 35 minutes depending on the style of the baklava and how thick it is. Once cooked, the baklava rests for u

p to 40 minutes. The baked baklava is placed on a burner to get the bottom crispy. When it achieves the right color and consistency, it's time to sweeten the dish. But if there's not enough sugar, the baklava will be too soft and dry. And if there's too much, it will lack the right crispness and flavor. Narrator: After three hours of prep and cooking, the baklava is ready to eat. Narrator: It's believed that baklava was adapted from a savory layered pastry known as borek, which was popular acros

s Central Asia in the 11th century. Over time, it's believed that it was combined with the Arab practice of soaking pastries and donuts in honey or sugar syrup. Some of the earliest mentions of baklava in Turkey come from the 1400s. It was enjoyed by sultans during the Ottoman Empire and remains a popular dish among locals today. Narrator: Prepared in the neighborhood of El Matareya in Cairo, this is one of the largest iftar meals in Egypt. On the 15th of Ramadan, the evening meal for breaking t

he day's fast is cooked entirely by volunteers, but there is no way all this food can only be cooked on the streets. We'll be visiting chefs Ahmed Akram and Mohammed Ibrahim and the women preparing traditional homemade dishes to see how they prepare this iftar in such big batches. In the streets, chef Mohammed is grilling 500 kilograms of shish tawook, a type of grilled chicken, which will be part of the main course. In the morning, the chicken is brought to the cooking area after marinating ove

rnight in onions, yogurt, mustard, and spices. The chefs then load them into grill baskets before cooking them over coals. Narrator: The grilled chicken is then cut in half and put on a metal platter for packaging. In another area of the street kitchen, chef Ahmed is making 170 kilograms of rice, which is easier said than done. Narrator: While he's unable to taste the food, Ahmed makes several pots of rice with garlic, onions, ginger, peppers, saffron, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and bay leaves.

Narrator: While the main dishes are cooked in the street, other items like mahshi and kebab halla are cooked in 30 different homes by volunteers who have experience making them. They receive their supplies a few days before the event from organizers like Ali Amin. Narrator: In her house, Umm Mustafa is making mahshi, or vegetables stuffed with rice. Narrator: The first step of making mahshi is making a tomato sauce. Narrator: After mixing it all together, they finish it off with cilantro. While

Umm is doing this, across the street, Huda Hassan is busy preparing four pots of her kebab halla, a type of onion-beef braised stew. Narrator: Back at Umm's house, she's hollowing out the vegetables so they can be stuffed with the rice mixture. Narrator: Once the vegetables are stuffed, she covers them with stock and boils them until they're cooked through. Narrator: But to make enough mahshi and kebab halla to feed an entire neighborhood, both of these women have help. Narrator: In the early a

fternoon, volunteers pick up the mahshi and kebab halla and bring them to the central kitchen for packaging. Narrator: Volunteers form an assembly line and pack every meal by hand. Narrator: All of the food is carried through the crowd and placed on 500 tables stretching a kilometer down the street. Narrator: And when the sun finally sets, the community can enjoy their feast. Narrator: Every year, communities across Milpa Alta, Mexico, come together to cook a massive feast called the junta. For

48 hours, 500 volunteers work around the clock, often without sleep, to prepare over 3,000 kilograms of tamales, mole, and rice. And there's a lot riding on this feast. If all goes well, the community will raise enough money to support an important religious pilgrimage to Chalma. We visited Milpa Alta to see how these volunteers make food for the junta in such big batches. The first day of cooking begins with washing and shucking 300 bunches of dried corn husks so they can be used to wrap tamale

s the next day. Yesenia González Lemus is one of the dedicated volunteers with many years of experience making tamales for the junta. Narrator: While some groups wash the leaves, others strain black beans that have been soaking overnight and transfer them into buckets. These buckets are then poured into two giant pots, where the beans are boiled in water with onions, garlic, and lard. The cooked beans are then sent to a mill to be ground into a paste. Across the kitchen, butchers are busy cuttin

g and cleaning 1,200 kilograms of pork and beef. On the second day, large bags of ground beans and masa, a nixtamalized corn mix, arrive from the mill. The masa and black beans are poured onto large tables, where they're mixed with water, lard, salt, and tequesquite, a mineral salt that has been used in Mexico since pre-Columbian times. Once mixed, the masa is taken to another table, where it's spread into a flat layer, then topped with black beans. Then workers cut the mix into squares with the

ir fingers and roll them up. These rolls are then passed to another table, where they're stuffed inside of the corn husks to become tamales. Narrator: Volunteers pile the rolled tamales into crates and carry them to the cooking area. Here, they pour the tamales into 68 oil drums that are lined with paper bags. They fill every drum to the top before wrapping it in a plastic bag, which helps steam the tamales. After they tie the bags, they light wood fires under each drum. The tamales start cookin

g in the early afternoon and are left until early morning. The next order of business is making mole, a thick, rich sauce made with a blend of ground chilies, spices, and chocolate. The ground mole arrives in 50-kilogram bags, which need to be sifted to remove clumps before cooking. Then the mole is added into giant pots of boiling water, where it's left with expert mole cookers, known as moleros. Gustavo Álvarez Jurado, who is the head molero, has been helping make this dish for over 26 years.

Narrator: Mole flavor varies across Mexico. In Milpa Alta, a sweeter taste is preferred, so sugar is added to the mixture. Making this mole requires constant attention and stirring, so it doesn't burn or stick to the pot. Hector Quintín Meza is one of Milpa Alta's most experienced moleros. Narrator: While the mole cooks, another massive pot is filled with water and brought to a boil. This pot is what's used to boil all of the meat that was cut the day before. At 2 a.m., the rice is ready to be m

ade. White rice, carrots, fresh tomatoes, parsley, and spices are all mixed together and boiled. This year, the kitchen is using 25 pots that can cook 200 kilograms of rice in 30 minutes. And by the end of the night, they'll cook 800 kilograms. Central to these processes is the mayordomo, a role that is responsible for securing all of the ingredients and utensils needed to make the feast possible. This year, the responsibility is being shared by Paulina Jardines and her brother, Isaac. Narrator:

Like mayordomos before, Paulina and her brother have been waiting over 20 years to receive this position and follow in the footsteps of their mother, Alejandra, who served as a mayordomo in 2001. Narrator: At 6 a.m., everyone takes a short break to attend a mass. After the mass, the priest goes around the kitchen and blesses all of the food. In a tent, guests check in and write their names on cards to indicate how much money they're going to donate to the mayordomo for the pilgrimage to Chalma.

Everyone who pledges money receives a corresponding amount of food, which is indicated on their card. But really, the meal is for anyone and everyone who donates their time, money, or goods for the event. Instead of eating in the kitchen, many people bring their own containers from home and take the food away. Narrator: Chalma is a major pilgrimage site for Catholics in Mexico, who make the pilgrimage on foot from various parts of the country. The site is also known for miraculous healing power

s, and people from all over come to seek blessings and miracles. Narrator: Before the Spanish conquest, Indigenous deities with magical powers were worshipped here. When the missionaries arrived, they brought their faith and proclaimed a miracle had taken place in Chalma, cementing it as a religious site for Roman Catholics all over Mexico. Narrator: These cooks make up to 13,200 meals a day for the 4,400 cadets here at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. Today, the team

is making over 22,000 meatballs combined with 4,000 pounds of noodles and 150 gallons of tomato sauce. And that's just for one of the dishes on the lunch menu. I would say in comparison to a standard college, we do things a little differently, I think, than most colleges do. Group: Attention all cadets. For lunch, we are having chicken. Narrator: There are lunchtime rituals, and each meal is balanced specifically for these future military leaders' rigorous workload. Christine: On a normal day, w

e're probably providing between 12 and 1,500 calories for these individuals. Now, whether they eat all of that is up to them and what they're choosing for that day. The cadets' nutritional requirements are elevated because they are engaging in academic work, in military training, as well as their physical exercise that they're completing here day to day. Every meal is earned, not given. So the fact that we are able to march in step, keep our military bearing, shows after a long day or long morni

ng of classes we've earned this meal. Narrator: Meals at West Point are served here at Washington Hall, the historic mess hall where army cooks have been feeding West Point cadets for nearly 100 years. News announcer: At mealtimes, the destination is Washington Hall, where the cadet gains back the pounds he lost during last summer's hike. And the food is tops and wholesomeness. Jason: Probably our most difficult meal to support here is our lunch meals, where the cadets have about 25 minutes to g

et into the building, sit down, eat, and get out. Faye: I think the one thing that a lot of people don't realize is how fast it all goes. So it starts at noon at formation. We all get in there by 12:10, and then after that the food is served to 4,000 people and eaten all within 15 minutes. Narrator: But it's not just the cadets who have to move fast. Christine: A lot of the cook staff who have been in those military environments and who have understood what that means to serve and what that look

s like, so I think they try to structure the menus so that they may see similar things when they're out and not at West Point. Narrator: But how does the staff at West Point prepare over 4,000 nutritious meals that can be served and eaten in under 25 minutes? Insider was granted rare access to the mess hall to see how they pull it off. The food is prepared underneath the mess hall in a labyrinth of hallways, kitchens, and freezers. Jason: So feeding 4,000 cadets is certainly a challenge. It is a

lso a very well-oiled machine. We've got multiple refrigerators and freezers here. My whole background in the Army has been in food service the entire 20 years that I've been in the Army. In the cadet mess, I have approximately 90 Department of the Army civilian employees that are cooks. They're the ones that cook all the food. But we also have another approximately 130 or so contractors that work in the mess here. And their job is to actually serve the food to the cadets. The challenges of prep

aring 4,000 meals three times a day are substantial. Our staff is arriving at 3:30 in the morning, and we're not opening for breakfast for another three hours. But the reason is because it takes that three hours to prepare food for 4,500 cadets. Narrator: On the menu for today's lunch: spaghetti with meatballs, breadsticks, fruit salad, broccoli, and iced cake. Prepping enough spaghetti for over 4,000 students starts nearly two hours before lunchtime. In the large kitchen, cooks start the spaghe

tti by boiling 400 pounds of pasta in these giant vats. Then they add 22,500 meatballs, which they prepared early this morning, enough for each cadet to have five. With the spaghetti underway, cooks begin steaming 720 pounds of broccoli. Meanwhile, in the bakery, 400 cakes are being iced and placed on carts. Back in the main kitchen, cooks drain the water from the vats and add 150 gallons of tomato sauce. While the spaghetti is simmering, cooks in a temperature-controlled cold kitchen are prepar

ing for a lunch that won't be served for another two days. These cooks are opening two pallets of frozen ribs weighing 3,600 pounds and breaking them into pieces. Prepping meals days in advance is one of the methods the mess hall staff uses to serve so many cadets so quickly. Jason: For menu development, I work with a dietician that works for the United States Corps of Cadets, which is upstairs from the cadet mess here. We come up with options using Army recipes that are in the Army system, as w

ell as other recipes that are available online. And we review those recipes, make sure that they meet the dietary guidelines that they need to meet for West Point's standards, and then we try them out. I am a registered dietician and a certified specialist in sports dietetics for the Core of Cadets at West Point. So the menus are structured in a certain way to make sure that they are meeting all of their calorie requirements. So on the menus there's usually carbohydrate-based foods, which are go

ing to fuel their brain health and support their academic performance, as well as prime their muscles for some of that moderate-to-high-intensity exercise that they're going to engage in. And then we usually have plant- and animal-based protein sources in order to support their tissue and muscle recovery. And then we have a lot of different fruit and vegetable options. So fresh fruit, we have a cooked vegetables at the table, as well as a pretty robust salad bar that provides lots of antioxidant

s to make sure that they get that color in. It supports their immune system and makes sure that they combat some of that inflammation that's incurring from that intense exercise. Narrator: Once all the dishes are finished, they're served into portioned containers and loaded into heated carts. We have around 50 to 75 of the hot carts going. So generally speaking, each hot cart will hold food for about 10 tables. Group: Ten minutes until assembly for lunch formation. Before lunch formation and bef

ore morning formation, the plebes call minutes, and they say the meal for that day. Group: For lunch, we are having chicken, rice, and vegetables. Narrator: After receiving the minutes read aloud by freshmen, known as plebes ... Group: Five minutes remaining. Narrator: ... cadets get into company formation in front of Washington Hall in an area called the Apron. While the students gather, members of the West Point Band play them into formation. Meanwhile, inside the mess hall, the waitstaff is s

etting out the water and bread for the 25-minute meal. Jeanaoh: Oh, it's like everything you've seen in the movies. Before formation, we heard the band start kicking off, really telling us to fall in the companies. Once the accountability is taken of the company, then battalion, in the regiment, we all start marching to the beat of the drums to the mess hall. And really, the drums help us stay in step, keep the cadence, and keeping our military bearing. Narrator: As cadets file in, the waitstaff

has only six minutes to get the food from the hot carts onto each table. We make sure that all the table is set in terms of etiquette and making sure that everybody has their silverware, plates, napkins, cups. The plebes are actually in charge of making sure that this etiquette actually happens. Narrator: Meals at West Point are full of traditions that the cadets observe, like the plebes pouring water for the upperclassmen. Etiquette is a huge deal in the military. And so this kind of just rein

forces from your first year here that etiquette is super important. Narrator: At the plebe end of the table, every seat has a specific role and responsibility. Typically you'll have one person at the end, and that's your cold-beverage corporal. They will be in charge of making sure that everyone has a cup full of water, because there's water pitchers on the table when you get there. And then there will be a gunner to the left of them at the end of the table. They're in charge of the desserts. An

d then to the right of the cold-beverage corporal is the hot-beverage corporal. That person is in charge of getting if there's soup in the buffet line or coffee in the mornings. Faye: And then the plebes will call the table, which means so that they basically say the fourth class has performed all their duties, and now we're ready to eat. And then at that point, we all start eating our meal. Narrator: Portion sizes are crucial to ensure each cadet is receiving their daily caloric intake. But som

e tables in the mess hall receive more than the standard portion. Christine: So there's a variety of different cadets here with a variety of different nutrition needs. And they're always doing different levels of activity. Narrator: Tables with a "heavy" designation receive a portion and a half, and tables with a "heavy/heavy" sign get double portions. For some of the athletes that we have that have to maintain a higher body weight for their sport, such as football or heavyweight wrestling or so

me of our track and field throwers, they require more calories to be able to support that activity, as well as keep their body weight in a range to be competitive in their sport. So they may need more calories to support that. Narrator: For cadets, lunch is a mandatory meal. They're all coming here from all over the country and honestly, all over the world, because there are exchange students as well. So it's a way to make sure that they can build that camaraderie and build that teammate, build

that team together by making them have that meal. Narrator: For upperclassmen, breakfast and some dinners are optional, where they can choose from several other options on campus. Another tradition in Washington Hall: All four years of students sit next to each other for lunch. I love having a table with both freshmen, juniors, seniors. It definitely allows you to interact with people in your company that you normally wouldn't. And we switch tables every semester as well. So we get to build thos

e new relationships with people throughout our four years here. So I think probably the most favorite meal and something you'll probably hear a lot is there's a spicy chicken patty that the cadets absolutely love. My favorite meal here would probably be either spicy chicken or the sweet and sour chicken with rice. Favorite meal is definitely crispitos, sir. It's like a hot dog burrito, if I had to explain it. I really do like taco Tuesdays. I also think they do a very good job with the seafoods.

My least favorite food would probably be taco night. Probably the pork chop. I'm not really a big Philly cheesesteak guy. Sometimes they'll get burnt out on eating chicken. There's only so many proteins that we can prepare. Chicken is one of them that really almost everybody eats. It's trying to find different ways to season the chicken or different ways to prepare the chicken so that their palate doesn't get burnt out from eating the same thing. Sherman: This is Washington Hall, inside the cad

et mess area, as we call it. So behind me is the famous mural. The inspiration behind this was by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, class 1903. And in the 1930s, he became chief of staff of the Army. He worked with the academic board here, and they came up with the concept of battles, leaders, commanders, and technology. You'll see Alexander the Great up top with the chariot. You'll see siege rams and so on. All the states are by admission. So you got Arkansas, Texas, Iowa, California, and so on. Behind m

e is the entrance from the mess hall when it was finished in 1929. So below me about three or four feet would be steps and then the grass area out here. This was the front of the mess hall. So in the early 1960s, the idea was to expand the enrollment of the academy because the Army and the Air Force Academy, which was only a few years old, had an enrollment top of 2,500, where the Naval Academy had 4,000 midshipmen by law. So there's different aspects that occurred, but in 1965, the law was sign

ed, and they started building, expanding. So they built out from the original 1929 mess hall this way. So at the end of the meal, normally they'll call "Upperclass rest" or "Brigade rise," and then at that point, everybody can get up and leave. So at that point, the meal has ended. It usually only takes, like, 12 to 15 minutes for everybody to eat. And then we're on our way to our next class. Our next class starts at 12:45. Narrator: As the cadets begin to leave Washington Hall, the waitstaff cl

eans the tables. And back in the kitchens, the cooks have begun preparing dinner, which is only five and a half hours away. Narrator: This used to be the only way to make a Domino's pizza. About a dozen workers touched every ball of dough rolling down the production line. But now, in Domino's brand new $50 million facility in Indiana, machines measure, move, and stack pizza dough. And more and more, workers touch buttons instead of flour. Brian: You just have to kind of watch it, make sure it's

doing the right things. Narrator: All this comes after years of stiff competition from other pizza chains and a struggle to find enough workers, even in the store. Kate: Domino's in particular was having a hard time fulfilling these roles that are not super high-paying and are pretty strenuous to work. Narrator: And as sales spike for pizza's biggest holiday, those machines will be put to the test. Carol: It's all hands on deck. Super Bowl is one of the, you know, top three busiest days for Domi

no's Pizza. Narrator: So how does the world's biggest pizza chain balance automation with a human touch? And what does all this mean for the future of fast food? Each year, Domino's slings out about a billion pizzas globally. Kate: They have been one of the most successful public companies since around 2009, 2010. Narrator: The company can keep pizza cheap because it controls its entire supply chain, from dough-making to delivery. In the US, it all depends on bustling production and distribution

centers. Back in 2018, we filmed at an older center in Connecticut with a more manual dough process. There, it took hours longer to make and chill pizza dough than at Domino's newest and heavily automated Indiana center. Noe: Now we have robots, so it's more efficient, it's more consistent. Narrator: There's a 110,000-square-foot location opened in October 2022 and reportedly cost the company $15 million. Jacob: We're constantly moving. From the second that we start, we're go, go, go. Narrator:

While some centers still measure ingredients by hand, at the new ones, mixing machines pump in flour, water, oil, salt, and sugar directly from storage. Noe: And then we have a secret recipe, prepackaged recipe. I cannot tell you what's in our top-secret ingredient because we wouldn't be able to let you go out of here. Narrator: The new facility can churn out 50 batches of dough a day. Noe: That's 88,000 pizzas for our customers daily. Andy: Dough has a shelf life to it, and we don't freeze it.

We constantly have to make it, so it's nonstop. Narrator: Workers in this new center mostly control the computers, pull samples for quality control, and troubleshoot any issues with the machines. Brian: We don't like to stop. So basically, if there's anything that goes on during the day, we're meant to clean out the problems fast, efficiently, and get them going so the line never stops. Narrator: Workers can program the machine to pop out different-sized dough balls for small, medium or large p

izzas. Brian: And I just changed that tube out to give us a little bit smaller dough ball. Narrator: And then robots place the dough balls onto trays. That's another update, as this used to be done by hand. Noe: Nine years ago, it was team members that were placing that. So just imagine how hard that was on our team members. This has made it a lot less physical, and we're able to attract a lot more talent. Narrator: A set of cameras makes sure the dough balls don't stick together. Noe: It's lite

rally taking micro-pictures of it. If it catches any mistakes with our placing, this right here will reject each tray. Narrator: This machine applies a label to each tray. Noe: To identify what kind of dough it was and when it was made. Narrator: Behold the spiral chiller. About 3,000 feet of conveyor belts can cool 40,000 trays of dough at once. Noe: There isn't a cooler bigger than the one that you see behind me. We're able to hold two days' worth of production, and that gives us the ability t

o have dough in case we need to support other supply-chain centers. Narrator: They don't want to freeze it, because then it would stop the dough from proofing, or the rising that happens when yeast is activated. So they chill it down to 38 degrees to slow the proofing process. Noe: It's very cold in here. Our trays go up for 30 minutes and then come down for 30 minutes. Narrator: The dough used to take four hours to cool. Now, with the spiral chiller, it takes just one. The dough balls travel do

wn another conveyor belt. Then, sensors tell these robots to stack them 25 trays high, a much faster process than the original way of doing it. The machine also slides a dolly cart under each stack to easily move them. Noe: This is the end of the line. We double-check that each tray has a label. Then you push it. Narrator: Here, six different kinds of dough — handmade pan, hand-tossed extra large, large, medium, small, and wheat for school lunches — await orders from franchises. And they have to

move fast to prepare for the biggest pizza holiday, the Super Bowl. Noe: We normally see a 30% increase. So normally we go from producing half a million dough balls to 750,000 dough balls a week. Narrator: Noe says with all this automation, the center was able to cut hours off its dough-making time. And this production process requires fewer employees, an important feature of the new facility. Because less than a year into the pandemic, Domino's came face-to-face with the labor crisis gripping

the entire food industry. By early 2021, the US restaurant industry was down 1.2 million workers. And there were lots of reasons why. Some workers retired. Some quit. Some trained for jobs in other sectors. And some relied on unemployment benefits. Employees left warehouse and delivery jobs at record rates. Kate: Domino's in particular was having a hard time fulfilling these roles that are not super high-paying and are pretty strenuous to work. Narrator: Warehouse conditions can be tough. Andy:

In the summertime, this dry warehouse area, it can get super hot. We do have fans, and we have other things to keep people cool and hydrated, but it can get super hot. Narrator: That's where they keep the pizza sauce, dipping cups, barbecue sauce, pizza boxes, and the world's most controversial topping. Andy: Pineapple, for all those pineapple pizza lovers. The one area that we're looking into right here is our freezer, which is below zero in temperature. Narrator: This freezer stores the chees

e, all the meat toppings, and chicken wings. The veggie freezer holds just that: mushrooms, onions, and peppers. And a cooler stores the pepperoni. Andy: Staffing has been a real challenge across, again, the whole industry. Kate: So it's this kind of vicious cycle. When you can't hire enough people, it creates a lot of different problems throughout the business. Narrator: So here in Indiana, Domino's implemented new processes to make warehouse and delivery jobs easier on employees' bodies. At ol

der centers, goods would be bulk-loaded onto trucks. So when drivers got to franchises, they had a mini grocery store and would pick out ingredients from each shop. But at the new centers, Domino's has added a whole picking team. They grab all the ingredients and load them into cages. Each store gets its own cage. Andy: Which is just efficient and faster and easier. Jacob: The wheels on these carts make it so smooth to go in and out. Narrator: So when the drivers pull up, the pre-picked loads ar

e waiting for them. Andy: This is where we do stage all of our product for loading. Narrator: Workers move all the rolling cages and dough dollies onto 48-foot refrigerated trucks. Austin: We come in, and we place the carts in from left to right into the truck. We'll strap it every five rows or so to give it a support brace to hold everything in tight. We're heavily strapped in. It goes a long way to get the pizza to you. Narrator: On average, 13 stores' worth of goods can fit in just one truck.

Andy: We do a lot of things that are kind of like "Tetris" here. Narrator: The center dispatches about 28 trailers. They supply over 300 stores across five states. Domino's wanted the new center to take the load off older supply-chain centers. Austin: All those centers were over capacity. Narrator: Most drivers are dispatched overnight to avoid traffic and crowded parking lots. Carlos: We actually just left the center. We're heading out to one of the franchisee stores. Going to make their deliv

ery. My wife laughs at me every time, because when I go to parallel park my car, she's like, "Why you pulling up so much?" I'm like, "Because I drive the truck more than I drive my car." And I got a little bitty car, too. So you could just imagine how many wide turns I'm doing in my little bitty car. Narrator: And he says a lot of drivers quit or retired in the last few years. Carlos: When the coronavirus hit, a lot of people weren't coming out. Narrator: It got so bad, Domino's launched a progr

am to send employees from anywhere else in the company to driving school. Carlos: We're arriving now. The store's right here on the left-hand side. Carlos: It has a store number, the stop number. So it's very easy to know what store is getting what. So these are dough trays. We take the old ones, bring the new ones in. So it's just a cycle. Narrator: The new picking and caging systems have taken some of the physical stress off truckers. Carlos: Now, everything's pre-picked. So they've really mad

e our job 100% easier and better and safer as well. Our on-time status has improved a lot, as far as the delays. We're only in-store 15 minutes versus an hour. Narrator: So was all of Domino's investment in new tech worth it? Fast food correspondent Kate Taylor says yes. Kate: It is working. Kind of all of these solutions they've found are working pretty well. And at this point, the labor shortage is kind of abating a little bit. Narrator: And Domino's has held on to its title of the biggest piz

za chain in the world. It's nearly doubled its global store count in the last decade and passed Pizza Hut in sales in 2018. Kate: Domino's was basically able to steal a bunch of Pizza Hut customers. Narrator: But what does all this automation mean for the future of human jobs in fast food? Kate: Automation is no longer an if, it's a when for fast food. There's definitely money to be made in using robots instead of humans. Narrator: And Domino's is not alone. White Castle already uses robots on s

ome fry stations. And Jack in the Box is soon to follow. Robots are popping up in some KFCs and are set to start cooking chicken. And McDonald's is testing AI to take drive-thru orders. Domino's itself has trialed self-driving cars to deliver pizza. Kate: If there is a robot that can do something for a lower price point than hiring people to do it, companies are going to jump on that. Narrator: Which leads to the age-old concern: Could robots take people's jobs? Kate: I personally don't think au

tomating is an evil move. I think it's a bit more nuanced than that. Narrator: Kate says some of the lost jobs are actually OK to lose. Kate: Stacking boxes again and again and again. It can lead to injuries. Automating jobs that are repetitive, that are dangerous for workers, that are even just straight boring. That allows people to have the opportunity to have better jobs at a company. And I think that that's also something that shouldn't be villainized. Narrator: What hasn't become robotic is

Domino's in-store experience. Kate: You can't automate everything. Making the pizza will stay human. Narrator: The company does have that "hand-tossed" slogan to live up to. Pizza chefs pull the proofed dough out of the fridge and still make every pie by hand. We're going to start with some fresh dough. Pull it out there, stick it in the cornmeal. You want to make sure you make a pencil rim. It reduces the air in the dough. Narrator: Jessica ladles on a thin layer of tomato sauce. Next, you mov

e on to the cheesing phase. You want to make sure you stay away from the middle. In all even amounts. Narrator: She drops on about 40 slices of pepperoni for a large pizza. Jessica: It goes through the oven, takes about six and a half minutes, and then it'll come out on the other side. Narrator: A squeeze of garlic oil on the crust finishes off the pie. Jessica: And then you close the box, and it's all complete. Narrator: But just because there aren't any robots tossing pizza, doesn't mean there

isn't a hustle. Ready, set, go. Jessica: Done. Carol: Nice job, Jessica. Jessica: It's important to go fast, I think, for the customer aspect. Because when they're placing an order, they're hungry. Every pizza is a rush. The fastest pizza I've ever made is a large pepperoni in 25 seconds. Carol: It's all hands on deck. Super Bowl is one of the, you know, top three busiest days for Domino's Pizza. And before you ask, 59% of customers are going to order pepperoni. Narrator: And stores like this o

ne haven't been spared from the worst of the labor crunch. Carol: Now there are challenges with staffing retention. There is the competition of, you know, all those other delivery businesses that wanna take our drivers. Narrator: At the very end of the process, the hot pies finally head out for delivery. Today, still by humans and fleets of electric cars. But maybe tomorrow, in driverless ones. Andy: We're going to keep trucking the product to our customers and get it done. Narrator: This compan

y hauls in 60,000 pounds of crawfish a day. Once they're out of the water, the clock starts ticking. Farmers have just a few hours to get them weighed, sold, and into coolers. And these little guys have to stay alive the whole time. Madison: As soon as they're dead, it starts breaking them down extremely fast. Yeah, they'll get mushy and spoil. Narrator: These crustaceans are big business for Louisiana. They contribute $300 million to the state's economy and end up across the US. Narrator: But t

his industry didn't even take off until recent decades. In the '80s, some rice farmers took a massive gamble. They experimented with cultivating the crawfish that lived below their fields. And it paid off. In just nine years, Madison McIntyre has built one of the biggest crawfish companies in the state, handling up to 4 million pounds a year. I Never imagined that it would be to this level, nor was it our goal. It kind of just happened organically. Narrator: But because the farmed crawfish indus

try is so young, it's like the Wild West — unregulated and fast-moving. So how exactly did Louisiana's rice farmers come to harvest crawfish? And why do they stay in such a tough business? Crawfish are freshwater crustaceans related to lobsters and shrimp, and they're native to Louisiana's bayous, rivers, swamps, and rice fields like this one. Madison: And if you look closely, you'll see some holes. There's one right here. Narrator: They go by all sorts of names. Crawdads, crayfish, mudbugs. The

y come out the mud, literally. Narrator: From late September to October, rice farmers flood their fields, and the crawfish emerge from their burrows hungry. By November, he can start catching them in rows of traps. Mauricio Guillen, nicknamed Junior, heads out on the crawfish boat, which doesn't have a steering wheel. Madison: And all that's controlled by foot pedals that are at his feet. Narrator: Armed with thick gloves, he empties each trap. He has just seven seconds to dump out a trap, load

in more bait, and drop it back in the water. Madison: And that's just how much ground it covers between each trap. Narrator: He's got to move quickly so the crawfish don't die in the Louisiana heat. Madison: Junior's pretty fast. He's a lot faster than me. Narrator: This table helps them weed out any unwanted critters, and it separates the crawfish by size. Madison: The smaller peelers can fall through here. You know, they'll go from underneath here and then into these sacks. Narrator: But crawf

ish's big break didn't even come until the 1980s. Rice farmers' profits were dipping. So, looking for another income stream, they took a big risk and cultivated crawfish alongside the grain. Fourth-generation rice farmer Jim Johnson was one of them. Jim: It just works almost perfect together. There's almost no better combination of vegetation to go with crawfish. Narrator: The rice plant provides a wetland for crawfish breeding and shade from the sun and plays host to microorganisms like algae,

larvae, and worms. Jim: The crawfish will feed off of those. Narrator: The crawfish's poop then fertilizes the fields, and the two crop seasons line up perfectly. When farmers harvest the rice, the crawfish have safely burrowed themselves deep into the mud. Once the rice is picked, crawfish emerge from their burrows with babies. By winter, they're ready to be harvested and eaten. Soon, buyers all over the south, from Texas to South Carolina, began gobbling up the mudbugs. What was once just a lo

cal eat now makes up more than half of Jim's business. Narrator: Today, the crops are an important part of economies like Welsh, Louisiana's. Madison: All the crawfish in the whole nation are farmed in a 35-miles-square radius of this area. Narrator: From November to July, rice farmers end up with tons of crawfish packed into sacks like these. Junior and his team will load them onto trucks and book it to the crawfish dock. In the summer months, they have to get the mudbugs weighed and in the coo

ler within three hours, or else the heat could kill them. And dead crawfish breed bacteria. Once cooked, it's technically still edible, but the meat falls apart, and it doesn't taste as good. Madison pays rice farmers about $1.25 a pound for their catch. Unlike most crawfish-mongers, he doesn't come from a farming family. In 2014, he and his friend Charlie started selling them out of his truck in New Orleans. Madison: At an abandoned gas station, we would serve boiled crawfish through there on t

he weekend. Narrator: It was so successful, he bought more trucks and expanded into a full-fledged enterprise, Parish Seafood Wholesale. While a lot of crawfish companies focus on just one part of the process, Madison does it all, along with his dog, June. He grows his own crawfish and buys from 36 other rice farmers. He also owns a company that hauls the catch, a processing plant, and restaurants, cutting out the middlemen. Madison: Now, we have a little over 60 employees. We run 14 trucks seve

n days a week, 24/7. Narrator: Madison washes some of his catch on this $150,000 machine. Every day. Every day. But you get used to it. Like, it doesn't really hurt. Narrator: Not only do they have to watch their fingers, they have to watch out for runaways. Madison: And they're escape artists. So yeah. Narrator: Crawfish have to hit the coolers right after washing to keep them alive until they're sold. Madison tries to move the high-grade, larger crawfish within 12 to 24 hours, but that's not a

lways easy. Madison: It's all pretty much done on a handshake. There's no contracts. You have to be careful, because people can buy all of your crawfish in the beginning of the season, and then as soon as the catch picks up, they can leave you and buy from somebody else. Narrator: Stranding crawfish in these fridges. It can be a lot of pressure. Narrator: The low-grade, smaller crawfish are easier for him to move, because Madison just sells it to himself. Then he sends it to his Breaux Bridge fa

ctory to process the tail meat. Workers start unloading the crawfish off the trucks starting at 4 a.m. They dump them into tanks and skim off any dead or weak ones from the top. Then they give the mudbugs a wash. A conveyor belt drops them into a giant steamer basket. Using a system of tracks, a worker carefully lowers the basket into a vat of boiling water. Just like lobsters, crawfish go in alive to get the best flavor. That's why it's so important to keep them kicking until this moment. It ta

kes just two minutes to cook them through. Then Madison and the team rake them down this steel table into the peeling room. Leona Williams has been peeling here for 50 years. Narrator: She can peel about 40 pounds' worth a day. Narrator: They get paid $2.50 a pound. Narrator: The team in the next room vacuum-seals the tails into 1-pound bags. Because competition is so stiff, Madison wouldn't tell us where he sells these, but he said they end up across the US. He also sends tail meat and whole cr

awfish to three restaurants he owns in the state, cooking up all kinds of Louisiana delicacies. Crawfish have been an important part of southern Louisiana's culture for centuries. According to the Native Heritage Project, the Houma Indigenous people named themselves after the word for crawfish and used it as a war symbol. In the 1800s, a wave of French Canadians settled in Louisiana after being forced out of Canada by the British. They came to be known as the Cajuns, and they brought their lobst

er recipes with them. But short on lobster here, they swapped in crawfish. By the 1960s, crawfish had their own festival, and Creole restaurants were adding them to menus in New Orleans. It was definitely a Louisiana delicacy. It didn't really get much farther than the state. Narrator: Crawfish has since gone definitively national. But locals still cook them into staples like etouffee, boudin, and boils. Madison's business partner, Charlie Johnson, uses a Cajun cooking style in his crawfish boil

s. Charlie: Make sure the drain's shut. This is liquid boil, so I'm adding that to the water. Narrator: He first boils the corn and potatoes, drains them, and then cooks the crawfish last. Charlie: Right there, when the tail starts to kind of separate from the head, there's that little white line. You can see the meat. That's usually a telltale sign that they're ready. Narrator: While New Orleans Creole chefs add dry seasoning to the water crawfish boil in, out here, Cajuns dump on the dry seaso

ning after they're cooked. Charlie: We shut that ice chest, and we let them steam. I think the magic happens in the ice chest. That's when they start to soak up those seasonings. Narrator: Down here, folks stop by the restaurant well into the evening. The Cajuns also love their dip, while back in NOLA, they don't use any sauce. Narrator: With his factory weigh station and restaurants, Madison has become a considerable player in the crawfish industry. We're building a new facility that's going to

be focused on air-freight crawfish. Narrator: But his success hasn't come without its challenges. As the industry boomed over the last 20 years, lots of people tried to get in on the action. By 2019, the number of crawfish farms in the state had doubled. And then came inflation. Madison says costs soared 40%. Last year, fuel alone cost him $150,000 more than normal. That's a lot of money that would've been profit. Yeah, labor's pretty high, and we have mostly foreign labor. Narrator: Ninety-fiv

e percent of his staff is working in the US on a visa. Madison: And we always have to house them and pay for transportation. You can't find local or American labor that would work as hard as these guys do side by side with us. Narrator: Madison says he pays them just under $14 an hour, almost double the minimum wage. Madison: And we'll put in 15- and 18-hour days, seven days a week. So it's very demanding. We don't get to see our family as much during the season, but they don't get to see their

family at all. Narrator: Soaring operation costs and low margins have forced dozens of Louisiana crawfish companies to close. Madison: And so the people that came in just for the get-quick-rich scheme are not making it right now because of how tough the market is. Narrator: Madison says the size of his company has helped keep him afloat. Madison: You know, we could absorb that, those blows, but a lot of people unfortunately couldn't. Oh, we don't get big salaries. Narrator: Madison said Parish S

eafood Wholesale saw $500,000 in profit last year, and he paid himself just a $20,000 salary. He also says he invested more than 80% of the profit back into the company. Madison: So if anything ever breaks, or if coolers go out, we have backup everything. You know, backup trucks, backup ice machines, backup freezers, backup coolers. We have multiple forklifts, which are all just luxuries. Narrator: Because in an industry where one bad season could send a company packing, Madison has to fight to

keep each crawfish alive. Madison: I think, you know, in the next five or six years, it'll be very lucrative again to be in this industry, because there'll only be a handful of people doing it. That's where it's at. Narrator These cooks are grilling 4,200 beef tenderloin steaks at the US Air Force Academy's 225,000-square-foot dining hall near Colorado Springs, Colorado. And that's just for dinner. Over the course of three meals, the staff at Mitchell Hall will make 590 pounds of hash browns, 37

5 pounds of eggs, and 90 pounds of bacon for breakfast. Lunch will require an additional 127 pounds of bacon, 1,700 pounds of waffle fries, and 5,400 burger patties. On any given day, the cooks here are preparing 10,000 meals. This is the biggest dining facility I've ever worked in. You're looking at 430 tables, family style, and you got a starch, a meat, and a vegetable. You're looking at about 1,300 pans of food that are going on the table on a daily basis for lunch here. Narrator: But feeding

4,000 Air Force cadets isn't the same as feeding your average college student. Their energy needs are quite high compared to the average person. Where most people are trying to eat, like, 2,000 calories, these kids, I want them eating much, much more than that, and consistently throughout the day. Narrator: And on top of the bigger calorie count, lunch comes with a set of Air Force traditions three days a week. We got to see how one of the military's largest dining facilities cooks massive quan

tities of food across three different meals. Mitchell Hall has an annual budget of $20 million. In 2022, the dining facility purchased 546,000 pounds of meat, 1.2 million pounds of produce, and 21,000 gallons of milk, which were served across 3.5 million meals. Today's dinner is not just any meal. It's the cadet wing's Recognition Dinner. Motaz Ahmed: Recognition is a three-day event where the freshman class is put through a many stressful event to test their mental and physical stamina. Once yo

u make it to Recognition Dinner, it's a sense of accomplishment. The freshman class is recognized as fully qualified members of the cadet wing. Narrator: To celebrate, the staff is preparing 4,000 steaks, 1,600 pounds of tortellini, and 788 pounds of orange-glazed carrots. The first steak hits the grill at 1 o'clock to ensure the meal is ready on time, five hours before dinner is served. The steaks move in an assembly-line fashion. They're removed from their packaging, then placed on the grill,

where they're seasoned and then cooked. They're then moved into a pan, wrapped, and wheeled away to be stored in hot carts to keep them warm until dinner. At the other end of the kitchen, the premade pasta is poured into pans, topped with pesto Parmesan Alfredo sauce, and moved into a rotating oven to cook. Preparing this much food requires an incredible amount of organization. But not just today; a meal like this is planned out more than a month in advance. Maurer: We really want to work six to

eight weeks ahead and commit, we call it committing our menu, for that far in advance. And sometimes we'll find that in eight weeks, there's a holiday meal, so we need to make special preparations and changes to the menu for any special events that might be coming up. Narrator: And the Recognition Dinner is one of the most special meals of the year. In the front of the house, the dining area is prepped for the cadets. Back in the kitchen, onions, carrots, and mushrooms are cooked with a medley

of seasonings for the vegetarian beef stew, while the rest of the staff strains 788 pounds of vegetables and moves them into hot carts for dinner service. As cadets begin filing into the dining hall, freshmen, known as fourth-year cadets, typically have to pass out plates and silverware for the table. After that, the fourth-years read and study the Air Force Academy handbook, known as "Contrails," as they wait to be seated while upperclassmen quiz them. Tonight, the fourth-years become fully rec

ognized members of the cadet wing and will no longer have to perform these duties. River Ferrari: So, during the year of freshman year, we're required to come in here, and after everything's set up, we have to hold our "Contrails" at the position of attention and study them. So, they make us do this, A, to form discipline because we're standing at attention holding our arms up. So, on Saturday night, it's a fun tradition to come in and have your upperclassmen do that with random objects. Potassi

um, 160 milligrams, 4%, sir! Ferrari: And then you can ask them questions like they would with us with our knowledge. We're, like, yelling at them in a fun manner, and it's just a really cool experience, tradition that we do. Sir, the answer is the bunny! Narrator: Before dinner ends, the wait staff brings out Mitch's mountains, a dessert made earlier in the week by upperclassmen just for today's occasion. Ferrari: The Mitch's workers came in, and they brought us these boxes, and we're like, "Oh

, what's that?" Then they opened them, and it's just this pile of dessert. And so it's pound cake on the bottom, topped with a bunch of scoops of ice creams and whipped cream and cherries and American flags on top to celebrate our country. And so that was one of the cool experiences for us as freshmen. Narrator: After the meal, the staff in charge of the Recognition Dinner head home. In just eight hours, a fresh team of cooks will arrive to prepare the next meal. Kenny McElroy: Good morning. Coo

ks: Good morning. Our headcount for today has gone back down. We had to increase because of the weekend for Recognition. So, breakfast, we have scrambled eggs, bacon, and the roundabout hash browns. Let's have a good shift. Narrator: This morning, the cooks only have 2 ½ hours to prepare breakfast for 1,500 students. It's a smaller meal because unlike most lunches during the week, cadets aren't required to attend. But it's still a challenge to finish on time. Oscar Haliby: The biggest challenge

that we have right now is making sure that we have enough staff on hand to make sure that the job gets done on a daily basis. We are open seven days a week, and we do serve three meals per day. So the work never stops. Narrator: Like many other kitchens, Mitchell Hall is still recovering from a staffing shortage caused by the pandemic. The eight cooks on staff for this meal boil 375 pounds of precooked scrambled eggs, heat up 90 pounds of bacon, and cook 560 pounds of hash browns in an industria

l-sized fryer known as "the monster." Kuzio: As our staffing dwindled, we've had to go to a lot of predone convenience items. For instance, boil-in-bag mashed potatoes, boil-in-bag mac and cheese. It's a very time-saving opportunity for us with the short staff that we have. Narrator: It's a proven method for serving large quantities of nutritious food with only a handful of cooks. The staff will spend the majority of their time transferring breakfast items into pans, where they will be set on th

e serving line for cadets to grab and go or dine in. But just as breakfast is being served, lunch prep is already underway. Kuzio: So, lunch today, the cadets are getting what we call the California burger. They're getting waffle fries today. Again, they get run through our monster deep-fryer as well. Then we got the lettuce, tomato, onion kits that come in fresh, and those get placed onto the table as well. Narrator: On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, there's no room for error in preparing the l

unch meal. All 4,000 cadets are required to dine in at Mitchell Hall, and they're only given 20 minutes to eat. There's only about a 30-minute window that they have between classes. Then right after that, they're going to another class or military training. So there's only a small window built in for them to eat in Mitchell Hall. Maurer: That limits their options. We can't provide endless options in a meal like that, so they do get their one main option. We usually have a lean-protein option for

them, and we have a vegetarian option, and that's it. Where at a traditional college, you're going to go in and you're going to have different types of cuisines available. We don't have that necessarily here. I think it's just the scale that we serve on is the biggest difference in how we provide food to our cadets. Narrator: Prepping the burger patties for 4,000 cadets takes about four hours. Cooks start by laying out the precooked patties on a tray before moving them into the oven to heat up.

In another part of the kitchen, cooks work together to feed 1,700 pounds of waffle fries into the deep-fryer conveyor belt. As the fries exit, they're immediately put into pans that are later loaded into hot carts. Meanwhile, vegetables are boiled and seasoned in two 100-gallon kettles. McElroy: So, what we have here is our 100-gallon steam-jacketed kettles. We cook a very diverse amount of product through here. Right now, we're doing Italian vegetables. That's one of the vegetables for lunch s

ervice today. Typically on veg, we'll do about 200 pounds' worth of vegetables for a lunch service. Narrator: On the lower level of the kitchen, staff works to wash, chop, and pack fruits and vegetables for meals planned later in the week. Prepping food days in advance allows staff to seamlessly serve thousands of required meals. Kuzio: Thursday, Buffalo chicken wrap, Buffalo chicken tenders for vegetarians, waffle fries. Narrator: But even more crucial to their efficiency is planning the menu w

eeks in advance and storing the meals in the dining facility's 20,000-square-foot warehouse. Maurer: When we are ordering foods, that order goes in all at the same time for the whole week. They get put into a category, and depending on that category is the day that they arrive. Once everything comes up the elevator, we'll separate it and take it to wherever it needs to be. We have four storage departments, the warehouse, the freezer, meat, and dairy. Narrator: While the warehouse staff takes inv

entory and stocks next week's food, the kitchen staff is wrapping up lunch, moving the last few batches of food onto warming trays. Outside, cadets get into formation for the dine-in lunch, which is mandatory three days a week. The Air Force Academy band begins playing as the cadet wing marches toward Mitchell Hall. Newsreel: 2,500 men in the making march en masse to mess for meals like mother never made. Narrator: Since the Air Force Academy was established, in 1954, cadets have been required t

o march into lunch. Once inside, fourth-years set the table and serve the food. Ferrari: We set out all the plates. We set out forks, knives, and spoons if they're needed. I was at the position called the cold pilot. I pour the waters and set that all for the table. And then the person next to him is called the hot pilot, which, he would get all the food ready, everything, the meat, the vegetables, and the carbs. He would set that for each freshman and every upperclassman. Narrator: Today is the

freshman class' first lunch since Recognition, where those responsibilities no longer fall on them. They dine like the rest of the cadet wing. Maurer: It is impossible to meet 4,000 cadets' nutritional needs and food likes and dislikes, and so really it's working on them on an individual basis, just emphasizing the importance of regular eating and how that affects not only their academic performance, but their physical performance as well. Narrator: The Air Force Academy follows the nutrition s

tandards outlined by the US military, which requires its most active members to eat up to 4,700 calories a day for men and 3,000 a day for women. Mitchell Hall provides as much as 5,000 calories in a day, not including food from Falcon Express, the grab-and-go station inside the dining hall. Maurer: I order every single item that goes into there. So I try to balance it out too with things that are good and healthy for them that provide a lot of energy and nutrition with some fun things as well,

like Cracker Jacks and potato chips and stuff like that. Narrator: At 12:15, lunch comes to an end. Cadets clear their tables and head to their next class. The wait staff begins cleaning the tables and resetting the dining area. Back in the kitchen, the cooking staff starts prepping for dinner, which will be served in five hours. Narrator: This is what Tabasco's original red sauce looks like years before it arrives at grocery stores. It starts here, aging inside these barrels in southern Louisia

na. It takes five years to make a bottle of Tabasco sauce. It's a long time. Narrator: And the recipe inside hasn't changed since 1868: red peppers, vinegar, and salt. And even as the company's grown, it's managed to keep much of the production inside its headquarters on Avery Island. But Tabasco's storied home is now under threat. The factory is surrounded by shrinking marshes, making it vulnerable to hurricanes. And the company has spent millions on storm protection. It changes drastic from st

orm to storm. You can see the marsh deteriorate. And what you do is you get out there and you plant again. You try and hold what you got. Narrator: We head to southern Louisiana to see how the sixth generation of the McIlhenny family is fighting for the survival of its hot sauce and home. Tabasco grows peppers just for seeds inside this greenhouse. We're also looking for the plants that produce the richest color red peppers, that perfect size, and then flavor, too. Narrator: Christian Brown is t

he great-great-great-grandson of founder Edmund McIlhenny and the company's agriculture manager. Everything's looking good. No signs of aphids. Narrator: He sends only the strongest seeds to over 1,000 Tabasco farms around the world. Tabasco says their peppers originate from the Amazon in South America. They're about six times hotter than a jalapeño. And they are tiny: only 1 to 1.5 inches long and weighing a gram each. Because the peppers are so small and easily damaged, machines don't do the h

arvesting. Christian: They're all handpicked. Narrator: Tabasco harvests 10 million pounds of peppers a year. This footage is from Louisiana, but the process looks similar abroad. They sprinkle salt on the peppers and use a giant machine to mash them into a paste. Farms ship the paste back to Avery Island through the Port of New Orleans. Stefan: This mash is actually from Peru. We have 50,000 pounds of Tabasco mash inside that container, bulked in. Narrator: This pump siphons the paste into whit

e oak barrels. Some are 60 years old. Stefan: Most of these barrels in here essentially are used bourbon barrels. Stefan: I don't really have the answer. I know it works, and we've been doing it 150-plus years, so I'm not changing it. Narrator: A team works together to fill and seal each one. One truckload will fill up to 110 barrels. But they can't overfill them, because ... Stefan: If you have too much pressure, sometimes those caps blow off. Sometimes the lids will pop off overnight. So it's

a really simple fix. Just kind of move it to the barrel next to it. Narrator: It can take 30 minutes to finish one row. Since they're old, the barrels don't have a perfect seal. So workers pour salt on top. It lets gases escape while limiting oxidation. Stefan: The salt on top is just an extra protective layer. If there is an imperfection, that will help. Narrator: The team stacks each barrel by mash origin. Stefan: So this whole bay here, going as far back as you can to get to the wall, is abou

t 1,100 barrels of Colombia 2022. Narrator: The mash releases lots of gases during fermentation. So a tiny valve on top helps relieve the pressure. You have to have some ventilation process, or it's going to explode. Narrator: And that happens sometimes. Stefan: It is like a Tabasco ghost. They come in here at night, and they pop the lids off. And we come back, and there's six or seven we have to fix. Narrator: After three years, the mash inside will stabilize, shrink, and darken in color. Stefa

n: We can see that it was filled about this level here. And you can start to see rings on the side of that barrel where the mash is going down. Narrator: Even though it's shrunk, the aged mash is still really spicy. Not yet, not yet. But it is hot. So let's remember, this is 10 times more hot than actual sauce. Narrator: Next up, the aged mash is pumped into the blending room. Here, the pepper smell will hit you right in the back of the throat. I could say like getting maced, I guess, every day.

It really hits you hard. Well, that's how I put my kids to college, so I'm good with that. I love it. Narrator: Morris Montgomery oversees blending, but he goes by Nuk. The Army veteran ensures all the sauce tastes the same, even though it's coming from around the world. Nuk: I try to do three or four different countries and put them together. So it could be like a little Colombia, Peru, and a little Ecuador and Honduras. Narrator: He pumps in vinegar and blends it all for up to 28 days. Sevent

y-two tanks mix at the same time. Strainers remove pepper pulp and seeds. Nuk will take a sample for the lab to test for pH, and then ... Nuk: This is finished Tabasco sauce. And this is ready to go. Next step, to the bottling floor. Narrator: That's where John Simmons comes in. John: And I'm also a member of the sixth generation of the McIlhenny family to make Tabasco sauce. Narrator: John's factory fills up to 700,000 bottles every day, from minis to the iconic 5-ounce one. It also pumps out n

ine different flavors, from original red to habanero. Sriracha is the company's fastest-growing one. Today, machines do most of the filling, capping, and labeling. John: So a bottle's going to go through in about 13 minutes. Narrator: They gather the bottles and package them into cardboard boxes. John: We're doing it really fast, at like 300 bottles a minute. Next, the shipping room. John: We've got product for Germany, Japan, Sweden, Taiwan, the Canary Islands, South Africa. Narrator: Typically

, all these newly packaged products leave the warehouse within three weeks. While the sauce is definitively global, Avery Island has always been home. This was where founder and former banker Edmund McIlhenny first grew the tiny red peppers. He bottled his first hot sauce in 1868, sealed it with wax, and sold just under 700 bottles around the Gulf Coast. Each one cost $1. He named the brand Tabasco, after the Mexican state known for spice production and exports. Edmund got a patent for it, and b

y the early 1870s was selling his bottles across the US and even in Europe. And then it kind of started to take a little steam and get bigger and bigger. John: In one 24-hour period, we're going to double and then some more of what Edmund did in his entire life. Narrator: Edmund lived on Avery Island, which is a natural salt dome rising 163 feet above sea level. As the highest point along the US Gulf Coast, it's been a respite from raging hurricanes for the McIlhenny descendants that still call

the island home. But it's now at risk. Louisiana's coast sinks by an average of a third of an inch per year. On average, between 1985 and 2010, the state lost roughly a football field of wetlands every hour. When land sinks, it's more vulnerable to storm damage. Heath: It changes drastic from storm to storm, depending where it makes landfall at. You can see the marsh deteriorate. Narrator: Heath Romero is Avery Island's land manager. He said when Hurricane Rita hit in 2005, it turned this island

into a lake, and parts of the marsh were destroyed. After Rita, the company built an 18-foot levee with a pump system around the factory. Heath: We put in water-control structures to stop the salt water from getting to the cypress trees. Narrator: They also planted tall grasses for protection. Heath: You can see, we recovered all of this marsh. That was open water at one time. Narrator: But it's a slow-moving process, especially as the home of Tabasco enters another hurricane season. Heath: You

can't wait for somebody else to help you. You have to take action in your own self and try and protect what you have.