McDonald’s Faces a Milk-Shakedown
The fight for the right to repair the McFlurry machine
This article was originally published on my Substack, Trend Mill.
McDonald’s McFlurry machine is famous for great ice cream.
It’s equally famous for never being able to serve said ice cream.
The machine is out-of-order so frequently that it’s become a long-running joke (read: big customer bugbear). Even the company couldn’t help but poke fun at the problem, tweeting, “We have a joke about our soft serve machine but we’re worried it won’t work.”
Customers have continually made their disappointment heard, and it’s now the most common complaint.
Conspiracy theories have grown louder, including the popular one that McDonald’s employees intentionally lie about the machine being broken to avoid making shakes and McFlurries. (As a former hospitality worker, this is likely true in some cases).
Websites like Mcbroken were created to help customers satisfy their ice cream cravings, showing the operating status of the machines in real-time by using a system that orders a McFlurry from…
