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Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

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Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#221

Post by frankfrankfrank »

boatsie wrote: post #3

Tldw: the machine throws obscure error codes (too viscous, failure to heat to proper temps, etc) and can “lock out” the operator, who has to then call an authorized service technician that bills hundreds of dollars for repair. Any attempt to self repair or hire someone else will void the warranty and is disallowed by McDonald’s corporate. The ice cream maker company, Taylor, reports 25% of their revenue is service an…

You clearly did not even watch the first 5 minutes of the video lol

All other fast food companies who use the same machines don't have that problem.

Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#223

Post by raverbashing »

nomilk wrote: post #69

What a brilliant and intelligent expose. I look forward to hearing the collective response of the 16000 US McDonald Franchisees owners :) Afterthought: since franchisees are locked into the C602's I wonder if they could do anything about this even if they tried. Sigh.

I would really like to know how profitable it is to be a McD franchisee today, my guess is not too much.

So maybe this is the straw that breaks the camels back, who knows.

Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#224

Post by bluGill »

raverbashing wrote: post #96
noahtallen wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If the nightly heat cycle fails to complete for one of a dozen reasons the machine locks out. Those unaware of the process usually end up calling for service even if it’s a operations error(not enough product to boil successfully) This example is covered in the video. ;) The thing is, at least according to the reporting, even these operations errors are not clearly defined by the messages given by the machine. So,…

> It’s part of the problem because Taylor is incentivized to keep people calling in technicians, which means they deliberately update the machines with error codes even more difficult to understand. (Examples covered in the video too) I do believe this happens but I'm also "skeptical" of the ability of a high attrition place with underqualified workers working under pressure to get themselves up to date in maintenanc…

This isn't a high attrition work place!

Sure in general McDonald's is. However there are always a few people who have been around for years who know a lot more than the average worker. They are in management or maintenance. They have more training, and better wages. (not to be confused with the person who has been there forever but never advanced to such a position)

Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#225

Post by bluGill »

syrrim wrote: post #29
bcaa7f3a8bbc wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems that even a megacorp like McDonald needs the right to repair... On second thought, not exactly the megacorp, but the franchise owners.

McDonald's the corp isn't hurt by this, individual franchise owners bear the cost. In particular, mcdonald's the corp mandates the particular icecream machine that is used, rather than allowing the franchise owner to pick from several machines. The video argues that this is done because mcdonald's is interested in benefiting the company that makes and services the ice cream machines.

McDonald's Corp owns are significant number of restaurants directly. Most are franchises, but not all. Thus the company is directly hurt.

This feels more like someone not in the know of the real problems finding a false complaint that seems worse than it is.

Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#226

Post by 1123581321 »

slantyyz wrote: post #212
1123581321 wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Independent Taylor distributors come out and get the service revenue, not Taylor corporate. Taylor corporate makes money from the parts that the distributors use, but new parts aren't required to work with the software. Taylor isn't internally structured to incentivize driving distributor revenue. Taylor's McDonald's-only machines are different due to special requirements that come from corporate which ostensibly com…

In the Wired article, the Kytch founder alleges that Taylor takes a cut of the distributor's profit from the repairs: The secret menu reveals a business model that goes beyond a right-to-repair issue, O’Sullivan argues. It represents, as he describes it, nothing short of a milkshake shakedown: Sell franchisees a complicated and fragile machine. Prevent them from figuring out why it constantly breaks. Take a cut of th…

The article is wrong about that as far as charging hourly for service. The profit share comes from OEM parts and from selling the original machine wholesale to the distributor. There is some shared sales & marketing expense between corporate and the distributors’ group as well, including marketing the benefits of the service network.

Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#227

Post by alpb »

viztor wrote: post #131
alpb wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was my reaction to the video: Aren't there franchisors with many stores in a large metro area that can actually carry a lawsuit or get together with other franchisors to start a class-action lawsuit?

Why would they? As long as their business is profitable, there is no reason to launch a lawsuit that could cost them their business just for some repair cost.

Imagine you have 50 EC2 instances and each of them suffers 15% downtime monthly. Amazon is asking money to reboot them and get them up and running.

Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#228

Post by frankfrankfrank »

slantyyz wrote: post #213
fouc wrote: post #169

summary: McDonalds only allows their franchisees to use one specific machine for ice cream, from one supplier. Most of their other equipment they have more than one choice for suppliers but not for the ice cream machine. The supplier is Taylor, which supplies ice cream machines to many other restaurants which do not suffer from the same problem. The Taylor-made machine for McDonald's is deliberately designed to have…

According to the related Wired article, this isn't true: "(McDonald’s agreement with franchisees also allows them to use an actual Italian machine, sold by Bologna-based Carpigiani, that McD Truth describes as much better designed. But given that its replacement parts can take a week to arrive from Italy, far fewer restaurants buy it.)" [1] https://www.wired.com/story/they-hacked-mcdonalds-ice-cream-...

Unless it is an accidental oversight, since the video does not really go over the franchise agreement that much, if what you are saying is true, it highlights an issue that bothered me.

Even though the clear conflict of interest with Kytch is addressed, what is not addressed is that if owners simply buy the Italian machine or McD is sued for the clear corruption and conspiracy to commit fraud, the whole startup essentially becomes worthless over night; so the video does not address that other machines can be bought or that the clear conspiracy to commit fraud should be investigated and prosecuted, or at the very least the owners should join forces to sue McD for fraud.

I wish the McBroken site kept track of performance metrics, i.e., which specific machines were down the most. The dataset would surely clearly show proof of the difference in the machines? This is conspiracy to commit fraud if I have ever heard of one; especially with McD coming out guns blazing to scare owners about adding a totally unobtrusive device to the machine that in no way tampers with anything? That alone could bury McD in court as it shows clear collusion and conspiracy.

Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#229

Post by dsr_ »

slantyyz wrote: post #208
mjrpes wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The video says the Taylor machines at other fast food places (Burger King, Wendy's) rarely break down, or at least much less than McDonald's. So you're saying this is untrue? If not, why the discrepancy?

The Wired article explains this more clearly than the video. These machines do more than the ones at the other places. "But what makes the machine special is that it has two hoppers and two barrels, each working independently with precise settings, to produce both milkshakes and soft serve simultaneously."[1] 1: https://www.wired.com/story/they-hacked-mcdonalds-ice-cream-...

Sounds like having two machines would cost them some space and increase the reliability.

Do the franchise owners want that increased cost and reliability?

Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#230

Post by LorenPechtel »

slantyyz wrote: post #209
asdff wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are they using such a complicated ice cream machine? I worked in food service in the 2010s and ours was pretty simple. One switch at the back for on and off and that was it. It took one person like 10 minutes to break it down and have it cleaned at the end of the night. The hardest part was wiping the exterior down. You basically just put a bucket underneath, ran the ice cream out, then ran hot water through it (…

The video is not a complete story. I suggest you read the Wired article that came out a few days ago, as it addresses a lot of the questions being asked here. https://www.wired.com/story/they-hacked-mcdonalds-ice-cream-... It should be worth noting that the story in this video and the Wired article appears to have been initiated by the creators of the Kytch.

And note that the very existence of the Kytch says there's a big problem with the UI of the machines.
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