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.

 

[DumbDude42]

i thought they just get clogged up when too many roaches get inside at once lol

 

[TLEN]

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.

 

[The Last Stand]

Doing training to fix your own machines cost too much money. It's easier to say it doesn't work and call somebody.

 

[Just Dont]

Who eats that shit?

 

[Cliff Booth]

I thought it was because it's a bitch to clean and they just say it's broken if they already cleaned it.

 

[Radical Cadre]

I've operated these sorts of machines before.

They need to be cleaned all the time and 90% of the staff either cannot or will not learn how to do the procedure. Cleaning a ice cream/frozen yogurt machine takes at least an hour and requires the person doing the procedure to handle small parts, disassemble mechanisms, clean everything, then reassemble and troubleshoot any potential issues. And then after that you turn the machine back on and fill the hoppers with product which itself takes another 45 minutes to an hour to be ready.

So yeah. Most of the talent pool are not capable of doing this. And the fucker that is capable of doing it is not going to be paid well and will be expected to also be picking up the slack of their retarded coworkers while they're maintaining the machine. Fuck that.

 

[Just Another Apocalypse]

Doing training to fix your own machines cost too much money. It's easier to say it doesn't work and call somebody.

Or (serious answer, sorry) the work can only be done by licensed people. Usually the brother in law of whoever signed off on the franchise.

 

[inception_state]

I remember the last time this came up, and people called McDonalds racist for not fixing the ice cream machines in non-white areas. Here's the mystery solved:

 

[TowinKarz]

Doing training to fix your own machines cost too much money. It's easier to say it doesn't work and call somebody.

It's cheaper to call an outside tech than have your own repair department.

It's cheaper still to just label it "bOrkEN' than call a tech.

My first foodservice job included a manager that, to get the service speed numbers up, lied to customers who had complex orders that took more than 9 minutes to prep that the machine that did it was broken or we were out.

That place had meatloaf on the menu, I think we had it in the freezer, but I never once saw a plate of it go out.

 

[RodgerDodger]

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.

The machines also need to be broken down and bleached out for every 12 hours of operation. Which takes them offline for at least an hour or two before they can even begin the chilling process again. Which is why most McD's only plan on them for the peak lunch and dinner rushes. And as staff levels drop in the evening it all gets washed and left for the day shift.

 

[Bland Crumbs]

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

 

[RodgerDodger]

Doing training to fix your own machines cost too much money. It's easier to say it doesn't work and call somebody.

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.

 

[The Littlest Shitlord]

When I was in high school we always just blamed the local gay kid who worked at McDonald's for using the ice cream machine for sexual purposes, causing it to break.

 

[Captain Fitzbattleaxe]

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.

 

[feral cat #6385]

The machines also need to be broken down and bleached out for every 12 hours of operation. Which takes them offline for at least an hour or two before they can even begin the chilling process again. Which is why most McD's only plan on them for the peak lunch and dinner rushes. And as staff levels drop in the evening it all gets washed and left for the day shift.

Yep. Yep. And the parts are (or were) put in a special tray that had indents for the various parts and gaskets so none of them were lost.

 

[Troutsmacked]

I was expecting White supremacy to be the culprit.

 

[kidatari]

I'm not really into ice cream like I was when I was a kid
And I think I haven't had a ice cream cone from McDonalds in a long time, maybe 10years
so, I just never noticed this issue

But I do love those hot fudge ice cream cups with peanuts, and those I rarely eat, maybe once a year

 

[Hollywood Hitler]

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

They have better coffee than Starbucks and other chain places.

 

[Cardef1121]

I was expecting White supremacy to be the culprit.

The culprit is that it's complex, hard to understand and learn, and produces a product lots of people want... Sounds like white supremacy to me.