The REAL Reason McDonalds Ice Cream Machines Are Always Broken

https://www.wired.com/story/they-hacked-mcdonalds-ice-cream-makers-started-cold-war/

TL;DW : The reason McDonalds ice-cream machines are broken all the time is because the software, hardware and interface is intentionally too complex for the average McDonald employee or manager to fix so they have to call the company (Taylor) that makes the machine to send their own repairmen as part of their service contract to get it in working order. McDonalds head office doesn’t really care because they’re not paying for the repair, their franchisee are, and the franchisee contractually obligated to use the machines McDonald headquarters tell them to use and Taylor maintains a network of approved distributors that charge franchisees thousands of dollars a year for pricey maintenance contracts.

 

[Bland Crumbs]

They have better coffee than Starbucks and other chain places.

If you say so!

 

[Niggernerd]

Who eats that shit?

Fats with no self control

 

[gangweedfan]

The real question is why the fuck would you want softserve from McDonald's or anything from McDonald's?

This. ordering mc cafe shit slows the entire line down and it isnt even good.

It seems like I hear a new reason for why the McDonalds ice-cream machine isn't actually broken every day. At this point I don't know what to believe.

Dont dig too deep into this one. You want the truth? You cant handle the fucking truth

 

[Mr. Bung]

Machine breaks and you gotta "open up a ticket" which in my experience always means it will take at least two weeks for them to get back with you before even beginning to address the situation. Fuck that. Go get some real ice cream or Menchie's or something, and if you're too poor for that you probably shouldn't be eating ice cream anyway because the cheap processed food you eat for your meals will give you more than enough calories.

I've just always found it wrong that we live in a society where the poor are fat and the rich are thin when for nearly all of human history it's been the other way around.

 

[Blake Chortles]

Its almost never actually broken. They run it for the lunch and dinner rush then shut it off to clean early. If you want a better chance to get mcds icecream go to a mcds in a less diverse area.

 

[Some JERK]

TL;DW : The reason McDonalds ice-cream machines are broken all the time is because the software, hardware and interface is intentionally too complex for the average McDonald employee or manager to fix so they have to call the company (Taylor) that makes the machine to send their own repairmen as part of their service contract to get it in working order.

Once upon a time I worked at a place that had a soft-serve ice cream machine. It didn't have a software interface. There wasn't a single chip in it. It was a simple gravity-fed machine that was made out of stainless steel, plastic, and rubber parts.

Nobody within 10 miles of that place was capable of fixing that shit when it broke. We had to call a guy.

 

[cactus]

Why does an ice cream machine need software? When I worked at Del Taco, the shake machine just had a switch to flip and it was good after an hour. And taking the machine apart only took 5 minutes. The only way you weren't getting a shake was when the machine was apart or if the mix hadn't frozen yet.

 

[murdered meat bag]

They have better coffee than Starbucks and other chain places.

Best coffee and fries.

Why does an ice cream machine need software? When I worked at Del Taco, the shake machine just had a switch to flip and it was good after an hour. And taking the machine apart only took 5 minutes. The only way you weren't getting a shake was when the machine was apart or if the mix hadn't frozen yet.

Automation becauase the people getting hired are getting dumber. Most of my local mickey ds have automated everything. The drinks are conveyor belted..all the worker does is place the right size cup. Youve seen the self order kiosks.

 

[MembersSchoolPizza]

Akshually it's because it takes several hours to freeze and only half an hour to sell out and it's easier to tell tards that ice cream machine roke rather than explain it.
Source: some /b/tard burger flipper 3 years ago.

I don't think that's the case when it's in the off hours, though. Like, 4 in the afternoon or something.

Or else McDonalds just sucks at planning, which is possible.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

It's a little deeper than thar. This one sits on that narrow border between "Right of Repair" and "Public Health Hazard".

They lock down these menus not simplyvfor predatory service contracts. But also because its the sort of thing that the day shift manager at McD's probably should not be fucking with as doing it wrong can create industrial grade food poisoning. As a general rule you dont want the minimum wage fry cooks repairing the industrial refridgerators, and the food serice industry understands this. Yet somehow fail to recognize that this applies to soft serve.

I worked at a non-franchise burger place as a teen and I remember that the reason the soft serve machine had to be cleaned and maintained was because of the e.coli risk. At least the owner had the moral fortitude to take it upon himself to clean it instead of letting anyone else do it and fuck it up.

The soft serve comes in sort of unrefrigerated bags, like detergent refills, and all that sugar and shit makes it a fertile breeding ground for ass bacteria when poured into the machine. Our old-ass machine never broke, no one got a2m disease unlike that other place, plus we made real milkshakes with that steel cup attached to a mixer which was a pain in the ass, I wish that thing would have broken down every day.

 

[Mnutu]

It seems like I hear a new reason for why the McDonalds ice-cream machine isn't actually broken every day. At this point I don't know what to believe.

The only one that’s true and not desperate clickbait; it’s not broken, it’s down for cleaning. Ask anyone working there and they’ll tell you the same.

 

[WeDon'tNeedToWhisper]

They have better coffee than Starbucks and other chain places.

I have had their coffee there a few times but it's soooooooo fucking hot. Even if you take the lid off you still have to wait at least 20 minutes to take a sip without burning the roof of your mouth. Which is a shame because it's convenient and I think it's only $1.

And fuck Starbucks, they always burn their espresso and you just have to deal with it. Making coffee at home is best anyway, unless you like drinking your calories.

 

[WeDon'tNeedToWhisper]

ITT: Nobody watched the actual fucking video.

Well I did on jewtube a few days ago. The machine needs to be cleaned everyday and it takes 4 (or is it 7?) hours. I guess it's typically done overnight. When it's finished, an error message will usually show up and nobody knows how to fix it because the instructions aren't even in the instruction manual that come with the machine.

So they have to call "the guy", who is a technician from Taylor, the company who teamed up with Mcdonalds when it first opened and who each franchisee has to sign a contract to work with, or else... Mcdonalds won't guarantee the franchise... something, I forgot. Total fucking monopoly this Taylor company is.

The technician (or Taylor) charges $150 for the first half hour and then $315 for each additional 15 minutes. Some guy came up with this thing (lol) to put on/in the machine so this basically doesn't happen and Mcdonalds threatened the franchise owners if they continues to use it! Bastards.

yeah, I like to DP

 

[Red Sun]

It seems like I hear a new reason for why the McDonalds ice-cream machine isn't actually broken every day. At this point I don't know what to believe.

Believe this article, it is correct. Most of the people in this thread sharing alternate reasons are actually correct, but about the less complex machines used at Wendy's and such. The McDonalds machines are hugely complex and the employees are specifically not allowed to learn to fix them. Only contractors can.

Source: not functional enough to get a real job, but care enough to learn how fast food works

 

[Sanshain]

ITT: Nobody watched the actual fucking video.

This, prettymuch. Would've written something similar, but thank you for doing it for me. This highlights a huge problem that people seriously need to pay attention to before we all become Techpriests from 40k, worshiping machines whose operational principles have become as arcane as magical rituals and consist of 95% intentionally built-in manufacturing obfuscation.

 

[Snekposter]

And fuck Starbucks, they always burn their espresso

That's intentional. They purposefully buy the worst, cheapest beans they can, overroast them to make it taste merely bitter and burnt instead of terrible, and then dump a shitton of sugar on top to trick your brain into thinking its tasty. Its a hell of a racket, and when I took a woman to a place that wasn't Starbucks on a semi-date she had no idea a latte could ever taste so good.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

It's racism isn't it?

*reads article*

Oh it's not racism. I am legitimately surprised.

 

[Mnutu]

ITT: Nobody watched the actual fucking video.

Well I did on jewtube a few days ago. The machine needs to be cleaned everyday and it takes 4 (or is it 7?) hours. I guess it's typically done overnight. When it's finished, an error message will usually show up and nobody knows how to fix it because the instructions aren't even in the instruction manual that come with the machine.

So they have to call "the guy", who is a technician from Taylor, the company who teamed up with Mcdonalds when it first opened and who each franchisee has to sign a contract to work with, or else... Mcdonalds won't guarantee the franchise... something, I forgot. Total fucking monopoly this Taylor company is.

The technician (or Taylor) charges $150 for the first half hour and then $315 for each additional 15 minutes. Some guy came up with this thing (lol) to put on/in the machine so this basically doesn't happen and Mcdonalds threatened the franchise owners if they continues to use it! Bastards.

yeah, I like to DP

Except that’s complete bullshit. To effectively clean a soft serve machine at McDonald’s, it takes about 2-3 hours tops, and unless the person in charge of the cleaning fucked up (which is equally likely and completely unintentional), it’ll work fine. Frankly, the machine I’ve seen break more than any other was the frappe machine. Stop taking clickbait retards at that word. The real problem is high turnover and general incompetence. It’s not “we installed a kill switch in the computer to make you pay every time you clean the ice cream machine”. How you can be so fucking retarded is beyond me.

 

[WeDon'tNeedToWhisper]

Except that’s complete bullshit. To effectively clean a soft serve machine at McDonald’s, it takes about 2-3 hours tops, and unless the person in charge of the cleaning fucked up (which is equally likely and completely unintentional), it’ll work fine. Frankly, the machine I’ve seen break more than any other was the frappe machine. Stop taking clickbait retards at that word. The real problem is high turnover and general incompetence. It’s not “we installed a kill switch in the computer to make you pay every time you clean the ice cream machine”. How you can be so fucking retarded is beyond me.

 

[Niggernerd]

It's racism isn't it?

*reads article*

Oh it's not racism. I am legitimately surprised.

I can make it racist if you'd like.
"Everyone prefers the vanilla flavored ice cream over the chocolate flavor at McDonald's, and heres 10 reasons why that's systemically racist and problematic for BIPOCS"