interviews
The Man Behind The 'Burger King Foot Lettuce' Meme Talks Getting Doxxed, Fired And Tanking BK's Sales For Stepping In Lettuce
Back in 2012, the internet was rocked when a photo of a man standing in two containers of lettuce at a Burger King location went viral.
The location of the Burger King was quickly doxxed when the photo was initially posted to 4chan by the man who took the image, becoming a massive news story and the subject of numerous YouTube videos over the following years, eventually becoming a big meme when YouTuber Chills said the famous line, "Number 15, Burger King foot lettuce."
Alex, the man who claims to be the subject of the viral photograph, recently decided to come out as the "Burger King Foot Lettuce Guy" to share his experience about the incident. We spoke with him over Zoom to get the full story behind the controversial photo and learn how it's affected his life.
Q: It's great to talk with you, Alex. Can you tell everyone who you are?
A: Hello my name is Alex. I am the guy behind the infamous Burger King Foot Lettuce meme. I am the guy standing in the lettuce.
Q: What is the Burger King Foot Lettuce meme?
A: The Burger King Foot Lettuce meme was a big meme that came out in 2012. Basically, it’s just a picture of me standing in lettuce at Burger King, two bins of lettuce. It was all over the news and it went viral like immediately.
A little while after, a YouTuber named Chills did a commentary video where he did a “Top 15 Mysteries Solved by 4chan” [video] and that’s where the whole “number 15 Burger King foot lettuce” [meme] came from. That just, like, propelled the meme into the stratosphere, basically. Here we are, almost 13 years later, people still know about it.
Q: So what’s the story behind the Burger King Foot Lettuce photo?
A: I just graduated high school, I got a job at Burger King. My two best friends at the time worked there, they helped me get the job. The three of us together, it was a recipe for disaster. We fooled around all the time, did really dumb stuff. One day I was prepping lettuce in the back and for whatever reason, I just impulsively decided to stand in the lettuce and call my buddy over so he would come around the corner and see me standing in the lettuce. That’s exactly what happened and he thought it was the funniest thing he’s ever seen, he was crying laughing.
I wanted to get a picture of it but I was looking at it through my phone and I told him, “It would look funnier if you took the picture.” So he took the picture, we finished out the work day and I think two or three days later, it was the middle of the night and he calls me and he’s freaking out. He’s like, “Dude I posted it on 4chan and we got doxxed, they posted the address of the Burger King, they called the news station.” Oh my god, my heart sank immediately.
The next morning I went out into the living room, my grandma was watching TV and I saw my feet on the TV. It was just the scariest thing ever. Like I said, he’s the one who posted it. I didn’t even know what 4chan was at the time.
Q: How did they dox you through the photo?
A: Apparently, when you take a photo, there’s something called metadata attached to the photo. It basically has like, your coordinates, the time the photo was taken, the type of phone it was [taken on]. All the info on the photo. He didn’t know about that, so when he posted it it still had all that data attached to it. The person who saw the photo extracted all that and found exactly where it was.
Q: What else went down at that Burger King?
A: We were doing really dumb stuff at that Burger King. One time I brought in a bag of habaneros and made everyone eat one. At the time it was like, the hottest thing we’d ever eaten, so everyone was trying to work while dying from the heat of the peppers. One guy got sick and had to go home and I got in trouble for it.
I’d be on the make line, making burgers in teams of two – one person would do the top half of the burger, one would do the bottom – and I’d usually do the top half. People would be like, “I want extra mayonnaise or extra lettuce.” I would just keep putting more and more on until my buddy would go to reach for the burger and see like, four inches of mayonnaise, or a handful of lettuce. Just dumb stuff.
One time I did actually serve that. This guy wanted extra mayonnaise and he came back and said it wasn’t enough. So in my mind, I’m like, “Oh you want extra mayonnaise?” So I literally gave him a pile of extra mayonnaise, wrapped it into a ball. He came back screaming, he was so mad. I would go into the walk-in cooler and grab full heads of lettuce and just start eating it. Just really dumb stuff. I was 18, but I was still really immature.
Q: Did you serve the lettuce?
A: I threw it out immediately. My buddy immediately was like, “Dude you gotta throw it out.” A lot of people think that the lettuce was served and that I’m lying, which I get. I imagine anyone, had I actually served it, I would still say I’d thrown it out, so there’s really no getting around that. You can believe whatever you want. But yeah, I did not serve the lettuce.
Q: There are lots of horror stories about people spitting in food before serving it. Does that kind of stuff actually happen?
A: That doesn’t really happen as often as you think, though. I worked in food service for over a decade. After that I worked at Dominos, I worked at Taco Bell and I never saw anything like that. I’ve seen people mess with food, but never serve anything like that.
Q: So what were the repercussions of that photo going viral and ending up on the news?
A: Immediately, I thought my life was over. I thought, “I’m going to jail, I’m going to get sued,” whatever. Fortunately, Burger King did not release my name to the public. So when it was on the news it was just, “Burger King employee standing in lettuce.” But everyone in my town knew it was me. Word got out fast. A year later, I would go to the gas station, and a group of kids who were always there would shout, “Hey, Burger King foot lettuce guy!”
It was really embarrassing for me at the time. Nobody really thought it was funny, especially on the internet. Everyone kind of figured I’m just a terrible person. But I think over time the sentiment kind of changed and people thought it was funnier. But yeah, in terms of repercussions, all it was was I got fired, my buddy got fired and unfortunately, the manager on shift got fired, which I think was just a PR move, because he didn’t really have anything to do with it. So I feel bad about that.
There was no way [the manager] would have known. He was up front, running the show while I prepped lettuce. No manager goes around and monitors everything you do. It’s too much. They just assume you’re doing the right thing, so it’s kind of unfair. But I mean, with the backlash, I understand their decision to fire the manager. It is what it is, you know? Hope he’s doing well.
Q: Did you ever return to that Burger King after getting fired?
A: So I’m pretty sure, on the 4chan post, they said that they called the Burger King. Even if that’s not true, I assumed that the Burger King knew. The day I saw it on the news was like, “Okay, I’m never going back there.” Unfortunately, I had to pick up my paycheck at some point like, a week and a half later. When I went to pick up the paycheck, nobody made eye contact with me. It was very awkward.
But the general manager who handed me my last paycheck said to my face, “If you ever need a reference, or if you need someone to talk to, you can always call me. I’ll put in a good word for you.” It blew my mind, I did not understand that. I’m assuming maybe they checked the cameras and saw that nothing was served, it was just like, a dumb thing to do. She was really nice. It was a really awkward situation and I just never went back after that.
Q: How do people in real life tend to react when they find out you’re the foot lettuce guy?
A: No repercussions in terms of getting jobs. I remember the day it was on TV, my grandma was like, “Don’t you work at this Burger King? Who was this?” I was like, “Whoa, that’s crazy, I can’t believe that happened.” She was like, telling herself, “There’s not way that could have been you.” I think she knew, but she was in denial.
I pretended like I still worked there for weeks after. I would leave the house and do my own thing, then come back during my usual work hours. So my family kind of knew, but they didn’t really say anything about it. That wasn’t really a huge repercussion, I guess. Everyone in my town knew, so there were a lot of weird interactions, people asking me about it, saying they knew me.
I will say, it followed me so late into life though. I had interactions where my friends, they’d be like, “Hey, we’re going to go hang out with my friend here.” So I would go meet that person and the first thing they’d say to me is, “Hey, you’re the Burger King foot lettuce guy.” I would just sigh and introduce myself.
I get it, it’s a pretty big deal. It’s funny. But in real life, I had a lot of interactions with it. Everyone thought it was funny. I’ve never had an interaction in real life where someone was negative. But when it gets online is when everyone wants to take a stance that I’m just a terrible person. I guess take from that what you will.
Q: Why do you think the story blew up so big?
A: I think the reason it got so big was that it was just so creatively disrespectful. Like, the shoes, just everything about it. There’s a big shock factor to it, you know? You hear about stuff like this, but you never really see full pictures. There’s an element to the foot lettuce thing that makes it really different. I don’t know exactly what it is.
Q: Five years passed between the story breaking and becoming big news and Chills’ video turning it into a huge meme. Between that time, had things calmed down for you at all?
A: It was a big thing on YouTube like, consistently. I remember waiting for this to die down, thinking people would forget about it. I didn’t want to be associated with it at all, I just wanted it to go away.
But it never went away, it just got bigger and bigger. It was consistent online. I remember, there were a lot of big YouTubers covering it for years. When Chills did his thing, it added a twist to it that just made it a whole other meme.
Q: Do you believe that the foot lettuce incident had a negative effect on Burger King’s reputation?
A: I’m not super proud to admit this. I don’t know if I’m 100 percent responsible for this, but I play a big role in it. If you look at the year-by-year sales of Burger King, it’s on a slight incline from 2011, then 2012, 2013 they cut their sales in half. It was so bad.
That particular Burger King, if you go on Google Reviews, you’ll see recent comments about it, like, “The food was great but the lettuce tasted like foot fungus.” I’m sure they get calls all the time. It’s just crazy that people have been doing that for, like, a decade. I’m sure even still today they get calls about it. I feel bad for those people [working there].
Q: Do you think anything positive came from the incident?
A: Something interesting is that if you look at reported numbers of food tampering over all fast food chains, especially in America, it plummeted for years after that, which is funny because you hear about a lot of people trying to replicate the foot lettuce thing.
But I think people saw how big it was. Nobody wants to be on the news or lose their job at all, so I think people thought about that and then thought twice before deciding to do something stupid with food.
Q: Do you like Burger King?
A: I never really liked Burger King. I liked it when it was free and I worked there, but even then … I just remember it always giving me a stomach ache. It was not great. I haven’t had it since I worked there, haven’t eaten it at all.
There’s like, a missing element if you compare it to McDonald’s. It looks like the same food, but there’s just something missing there that’s a big deal. It’s just not as good.
Q: Are you banned from Burger King?
A: A lot of people think I’m banned from Burger King. Funny enough, I never got banned. I never got a message or letter, nobody ever told me I’m not allowed at Burger King again.
It’s been so long I can almost guarantee you, I could probably get a job at Burger King if I really wanted. I kind of want to do that, go get a job at Burger King for a few days. I feel like I have to preface it though, because I don’t want to waste their time. I think it would be funny though.
Q: When did you see the Chills video and what was your reaction to it?
A: I saw it immediately. Someone sent it to me and I was a big fan of Chills like, all the way back in high school. I loved his top 15 series. I’d seen it on other YouTube channels, but when he did it, that was a really surreal moment for me. Just the way he said it, the cadence to his voice, everything about it, was so funny. It just created a whole new thing entirely.
Now, that’s the meme, “Number 15, Burger King foot lettuce.” It’s like a team effort. My buddy took the picture, Chills did his thing, and I stood in the lettuce.
Q: What’s your opinion on Chills sort of taking some of the heat from the incident off you? Have you spoken with Chills about it?
A: It is nice. Chills left a comment on my video and said something like, “The credit is all yours.” Which I’m assuming is an indirect way of him saying, “This isn’t my identity anymore, this is all you bro, take it.” When people think of Chills, they think of the “number 15” thing, for the most part, I’m assuming. I don’t think he wants anything to do with it.
In my mind, I was kind of trying to get his attention, thinking, “Oh, this was such a big part of his whole thing, he’s definitely going to want to at least talk to me,” but nope. I don’t think he wants anything to do with it at this point and I don’t blame him.
Q: Did anyone really know you were the Burger King Foot Lettuce guy until recently?
A: The only people who ever knew [it was me] until about a month ago were my friends and some of their friends. The people in my old city, Mayfield Heights, some people in there, that’s it. I kept it lowkey. Nobody knew.
There would be a lot of interactions I would have working at Dominos and someone would be like, “Do you know about the number 15 meme?” I would just be thinking like, “Oh yeah, I know about that, yeah.” I wanted to say, “What if I told you that was me?” but I never did. I was scared because, I think when Burger King first talked to the news and didn’t release my name and their sales took a hit, I feel like if I came out after that, they probably would have come after me and sued me or something.
Q: What made you decide to come out as the Burger King Foot Lettuce guy?
A: I think all the statute of limitations have passed and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Secondly, I’m in a rough situation. I’ve had some health issues for a while, I have seizures and stuff and I’ve tried working with them for years because they didn’t happen very frequently, but I’ve broken a lot of bones from it and I’m at a point where I’ve just accepted that I can’t really work with [the seizures].
So I’m just sitting at home, trying to find work online and it’s been very difficult. So I was discussing with my buddy, the guy who took the picture and he’s like, “Why don’t you just start content creation? Why don’t you just start streaming or something? You can tell everyone you’re the Burger King foot lettuce guy and use that as leverage.” I thought that was a really good idea and I’ve got nothing to lose at this point. Before, I could get fired from my job but now it’s like, that can’t even happen. So I don’t really see any downfall for it. I just figured I got nothing to lose.
Q: Lots of people with meme fame have done NFTs and crypto tokens in recent years, have you ever thought about making a meme coin out of the meme?
A: I made a joke video about that. So many people have asked me if I want to make a meme coin and I don’t. I’m never going to do that, ever. I know myself and I figured like, if I’m in a position where I’m about two clicks away from making 100-X on my money or whatever, I don’t know what I would do in that position. I just don’t want to be in that position at all.
It’s not even business, it’s just a scam. There’s no value to it at all. So many people have done it and not had any kind of accountability, which is kind of crazy to me. I think probably 100-plus content creators have done it at this point. I think it’s your responsibility to look into this stuff if you’re going to be part of a project. You should know what you’re doing. It’s just a s----y thing to do, I don’t agree with it. I think it’s just driven by greed.
I guess I have an interesting stance on my integrity because I’ll stand in the lettuce, but where I draw the line is the meme coin.
Q: If you could go back in time, would you still step in that lettuce?
A: If I could go back in time I would not do it. Absolutely not. I don’t care how iconic [the meme] is. I’m going back and I’m undoing it. It has followed me for so long and I just wish it never happened.
At this point it’s like, I’m embracing it because I can’t escape it and I couldn’t benefit from it in some way, but yeah. If I could go back in time, I would completely undo it.
Q: What kind of content are you planning on producing?
A: What I want to do is internet deep dives. I know there are a lot of people that do that, but I think it’s really interesting and it’s what I’m into. I think it would be cool to do documentary-style deep dive videos. Unfortunately, I only have a phone right now. I’ve tried working on videos like that and it just doesn’t work, my phone can’t handle it.
So right now, until I get a computer, I’m just doing silly skits, goofy videos and some story times where I talk about stories from when I worked in fast food because I’ve had a lot of bad experiences in fast food. But that’s really it for right now. When I have the resources to do it, I want to change my content.
Q: Any parting words for the foot lettuce fans?
A: Stop calling Burger King. Leave them alone. Seriously, it’s old. Just stop it, please.
A big thanks to Alex for taking the time to speak with us. You can follow Alex on YouTube @EpicAlexTime, on Twitter / X @FootLettuceMan, on TikTok @epicalextime and on Instagram @epicalextime.
Note: While we were unable to 100 percent confirm the veracity of Alex’s claims of being the subject of the Burger King Foot Lettuce meme, he sent us photographs of his 2012 high school yearbook from Mayfield Heights High, the high school in the town where the incident is confirmed to have taken place.
The man who took the photo also provided us a quote about the story but wanted to remain anonymous. He told us:
“I posted it to get a rise out of people and see their reactions. It fit in perfectly with the kind of thing that got posted on /b/ at the time and, not realizing there could be any consequences, I posted it with a taunting message: 'This is the lettuce you eat at Burger King.' As soon as I saw the post that doxxed the pic I became immediately nauseous and felt my heart rate and blood pressure go through the roof. There were in fact consequences for my actions.”
