Posted on 09/02/2021 4:46:44 PM PDT by grundle
It's a running joke that McDonald's soft serve machines are always broken — but now this issue is, apparently, being taken seriously
By now, most people have become accustomed to the fact that the McFlurry machines at McDonald's are frequently out of order. There's even a "McBroken" map that can tell you whether your local McDonald's ice cream machine is working. But some McDonald's franchisees are tired of being the subject of social media roasts and they've taken the McFlurry problem into their own hands.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal published Wednesday, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reached out to McDonald's franchisees this summer to see what exactly is up with the soft serve machines. Owners of McDonald's have said that the McFlurry devices, which blend soft serve with add-ins such as M&M's to make a tasty frozen treat, are overly complicated and hard to fix when they break down.
The machines require a nightly automated heat cleaning cycle that can last up to four hours to destroy bacteria," according to the WSJ. Owners say the cleaning cycle can fail, making the machines unusable until a repair technician can get them going again.
“Intrinsic to the interest in our soft serve machines is our fans’ love of McDonald’s iconic McFlurry desserts and shakes," said McDonald's USA in a statement emailed to TODAY Food. "Nothing is more important to us than delivering on our high standards for food quality and safety, which is why we work with fully vetted partners that can reliably provide safe solutions at scale. McDonald’s has no reason to believe we are the focus of an FTC investigation.”
The FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TODAY.
According to the WSJ, some McDonald's franchisees have taken matters into their own hands, paying to train their employees to fix the faulty machines. The FTC reportedly got involved when it appeared there were road blocks to fixing the devices. The Biden administration has initiated several investigations on multiple products, from phones to tractors, to ensure that manufacturers aren't preventing owners from fixing the problem themselves.
"The FTC wants to know how McDonald’s reviews suppliers and equipment, including the ice cream machines, and how often restaurant owners are allowed to work on their own machines," a person familiar with FTC conversations with franchisees told the WSJ. "The FTC inquiry is preliminary, and 'the existence of a preliminary investigation does not indicate the FTC or its staff have found any wrongdoing.'"
McDonald's confirmed to TODAY that they know it’s frustrating for customers when they visit McDonald’s and the soft serve machines are down, but that they've built a dedicated team to help serve their favorite desserts more consistently.
The fast-food giant also said they've introduced a variety of new solutions, including new training resources for crew members and regular maintenance "check-ups" to help keep machines running smoothly.
McDonald's has even tweeted about the longstanding soft serve machine problem.
"We have a joke about our soft serve machine but we're worried it won't work," McDonald’s tweeted in August 2020.
But the National Owners Association, a group of McDonald's franchisees, isn't seeing the humor in the situation. “We are tired of being the butt of late night jokes. So are our customers and crews,” the group wrote to owners back in May, according to the WSJ.
In the end, McDonald's owners and devoted McFlurry fans just want those machines working.
“I’m beginning to wonder if this McDonald’s even has an ice cream machine,” an Atlanta customer tweeted about their local McDonald's. “It’s been ‘broken’ so long that I’m coming up with conspiracy theories.”
Jim Lewis, who was a McDonald’s restaurant owner in New York for 32 years until he retired in 2019, told the WSJ, “The ice cream machine 'was so over-engineered it was silly. Sometimes simple is just better.'"
Is it the Feds bidness?
They aren’t broken. They are just simply a pain in the ass to clean. McDonalds should really redesign them to make it easier to maintain, because the staff, as I’ve been told, don’t like to clean them.
TRUMP’S FAULT
Sounds like a real issue after what we have been through the last couple of months.
That is where the employees hide their stash.
WGAS
Their shakes are a pre-made mix which is poured into the machines, how could they be so hard to take care of?
The machines likely haven’t changed since McDonalds first created them.
If the machines worked consistently and reliably we would be deprived of those wonderful videos of customers going ape when they are told they cannot get a McFlurry and then they tear up the place.
Actually they bought the machines from Ray Kroc, that was how he got started with the McDonald Brothers.
Everything is. Been going on for quite a few years now.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/former-mcdonalds-worker-lets-slip-20716313
A former McDonald’s employee has lifted the lid on why its ice cream machines always appear to be broken.
Under the Twitter username @will_doyle, the ex-employee claimed the machines are often running perfectly fine but staff just do not want to clean them.
The worker described this as a time-consuming process.
But fans of the fast food chain are sometimes told they can’t get a Mcflurry or milkshake due to the machines being off or not working, Liverpool Echo reports.
The tweet on Monday afternoon read: “Btw, I used to work in McDonalds. The ice cream machine was never broke, it just takes 3 hours to clean so we used to say it was broke so we didn’t have to serve you lot. Cheers x”
The codes are proprietary information belonging to the manufacturer of the Taylor digital ice cream machines that are standard equipment in more than 13,000 McDonald’s restaurants across the US.
Two years ago there was a couple who went in to business selling a gadget about the size of a small paperback book, which they call Kytch, that hacked into the machines to decipher the fault codes, allowing franchise owners to get their machines up and running without calling in contracted technicians.
Naturally, McDonalds and Taylor sued.
They Hacked McDonald’s Ice Cream Machines—and Started a Cold War
Likely. Kroc probably put it down as a perpetual agreement that they use the same machines, so he gets a small slice in perpetuity of every purchase.
It’s a ‘Rat existential Crisis.
Worse than the Climate Crisis.
But, hey, that never stopped them from sticking their nose in a thousand other things they have no business doing.
Perhaps they should get their machines from whomever makes them for Dairy Queen. Theirs are almost never down.
The McD’s problem is the automated sterilizing heat cycle. That is what keeps failing and that is not a lazy worker issue, it’s got a design flaw. A hybrid ice cream maker/autoclave must have some interesting issues to overcome.
Check out Dairy Queen. Burgers and fries at least on a tier with any other fast-food joint you can name. And they serve shakes, sundaes, and parfaits.
Not gonna argue if there’s a place y’all like that does both better! Just sayin’ Dairy Queen will always have ice cream to go with your burger!
Funny I just got through seeing a youtube video on this... had clicked on it out of pure curiosity.
Didn’t finish it, but this guy actually investigated it thoroughly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrDEtSlqJC4&t=654s
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