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New emails released in the McDonald’s ice cream machine lawsuit

wired.com

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Re: New emails released in the McDonald’s ice cream machine lawsuit

#101

Post by mdorazio »

14 wrote: post #53
jacquesm wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> McDonald’s used to be great When was this?

I’m from the 80’s. First they used to actually use beef tallow up until the 90s when they switched to vegetable oil. Major decline in taste and texture. Fries used to stay crispy longer and the flavour was much more rich. Also you used to be able to get a cheese burger for like $0.60. It used to be affordable but at some point the prices skyrocketed and they got their new menu items which mostly sucked. They used to…

Prices never skyrocketed, you just got older and aren’t considering inflation. 60 cents in 1985 is about 1.50 today, but a cheeseburger only costs a dollar now. In many cases fast food prices in general got cheaper over time due to efficiencies and cheaper ingredients.

Re: New emails released in the McDonald’s ice cream machine lawsuit

#102

Post by skocznymroczny »

dotancohen wrote: post #73
jacquesm wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never seen them provide value for money here in Europe compared to what was already available. What boosted them - and killed a lot of the local competition - was that tourists seemed to prefer them. We had plenty of fast food here that was quite ok before then.

> tourists seemed to prefer them Interestingly, in studies tourists actually do not prefer the food from McDonalds over local cuisine in almost every market studied. What they did prefer was the consistency: knowing what they are going to get.

I prefer McDonalds when abroad mostly because of their ordering machines. It's a big advantage if you travel to a non-English speaking country. I was able to order food without friction in Estonia, Finland, Italy, without speaking any of their languages.

Re: New emails released in the McDonald’s ice cream machine lawsuit

#103

Post by jacquesm »

skocznymroczny wrote: post #102
dotancohen wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> tourists seemed to prefer them Interestingly, in studies tourists actually do not prefer the food from McDonalds over local cuisine in almost every market studied. What they did prefer was the consistency: knowing what they are going to get.

I prefer McDonalds when abroad mostly because of their ordering machines. It's a big advantage if you travel to a non-English speaking country. I was able to order food without friction in Estonia, Finland, Italy, without speaking any of their languages.

People there will be happy to try to speak English to you if you let them. I don't speak Italian, Finnish, or Estonian for that matter, but I've been there and I have never had a problem communicating with people in the hospitality industry.

Re: New emails released in the McDonald’s ice cream machine lawsuit

#104

Post by listenallyall »

etempleton wrote: post #28
abdel_nasser wrote: post #20

how disgusting. it makes me think that vertical integration is great for countries where the losing party of a lawsuit doesnt face any form of disincentive like paying the legal expenses of the winning party. if you are a company that tries to sell a product like this ice-cream mod then you will be sued but its better to have your own burger joint and fill it with your own inventions. they say that the company was br…

“I sometimes wonder what a better McDonalds would look like.” I think a better McDonalds looks a lot like In and Out. If the Founder is accurate, McDonalds was a lot like In and Out at one time and operated like it. Chick-fil-a operates similarly. One thing that is always fascinating to me when I go to either of those two fast food restaurants is the army of workers they have on staff at any time. Usually each doing…

"Better" for whom? McDonald's is massively successful with $200 billion market cap and its stock essentially only goes straight up. The franchisees have always had gripes with corporate, always want to save a few pennies, but these arguments are tiny in the grand scheme... most franchisees are also enormously successful and fantastically rich.

Nobody is forcing you to go to McDonald's, stick with INO if it makes you feel good. I love it too (CFA, not so much) but each restaurant has its own niche and each chain has found the style that works for them.

Re: New emails released in the McDonald’s ice cream machine lawsuit

#105

Post by matheusmoreira »

PeterisP wrote: post #56
unreal37 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an interesting case to be sure. McDonald's Franchisees are independent business owners. McDonald's is refusing to fix a problem, and has pushed a potential fix for the problem "out of business". Not sure what the chances of this succeeding, but now we have Taylor and McDonald's hands dirty in trying to "buy this device and copy it's features and user interface". And lying about it when they said they had "no int…

Lying is shitty (but usually legal), however "buy this device and copy it's features and user interface" is not "dirty hands" but a completely legitimate course of action. They would have hands dirty if they had bribed some Kytch engineers for schematics or hired someone to steal a prototype, but there's nothing wrong about buying a product and reverse engineering it. In fact, I would consider placing restrictions on…

Completely agree. I don't understand why copying is so vilified. It should be the norm. It's also weird how people can somehow sign away their rights via contracts. Courts shouldn't allow them to do that. A clause saying people can't reverse engineer should simply be considered invalid and not enforced...

Re: New emails released in the McDonald’s ice cream machine lawsuit

#106

Post by Chris2048 »

Eelongate wrote: post #71
Niksko wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're missing an important aspect of the lawsuit. Kytch is alleging loss of business due to defamation by McDonald's, be because McDs falsely claimed that the Kytch could harm the Taylor machines.

If Taylor hasn't certified the Kytch product to safely integrate with the Taylor product, it seems reasonable for Taylor to say it could cause problems. If they said it will cause problems, that seems a bit different.

Hmm. If Kytch will never certify 3rd-party products, isn't it still irresponsible to say it could. The moon could be made of cheese if nobody checks.

Re: New emails released in the McDonald’s ice cream machine lawsuit

#107

Post by Chris2048 »

rndgermandude wrote: post #63
jacquesm wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never seen them provide value for money here in Europe compared to what was already available. What boosted them - and killed a lot of the local competition - was that tourists seemed to prefer them. We had plenty of fast food here that was quite ok before then.

Here in Germany, we still have a lot of other fast food, like the local Döner shops, or local "Asian" shops selling mostly Chinese, Thai and/or Vietnamese dishes (usually their menus are a mix), or pizza-to-go places or the good old "Currywurstbude" (selling Currywurst of course, but usually things like Schnitzel and even burgers as well). Even my own minor city (about 250k people) also has a lot of other fast food (…

> you know what you'll get

I always get a stomach ache, and possibly the runs. Something in those burgers just doesn't agree with me..

Re: New emails released in the McDonald’s ice cream machine lawsuit

#108

Post by blinding-streak »

PeterisP wrote: post #27

I don't see any basis why the complaint is interesting - there's assertion that the ice cream machine manufacturer is copying features of the competitor's device, which is a perfectly reasonable thing to do and, in the absence of patent protection (the word "patent" is not mentioned in the article) absolutely permissible; and there's some assertion of "stealing trade secrets" without asserting any actual compromise o…

> I don't see any basis why the complaint is interesting

Hard disagree. I'm finding this saga fascinating. You don't think Taylor lying to Wired journalists, and being called out for doing so, is interesting?

Re: New emails released in the McDonald’s ice cream machine lawsuit

#110

Post by kilroy123 »

siva7 wrote: post #85

The reason why McD tastes the same everywhere in the world is because of strict protocols like this. Ever wondered why Domino’s tastes very different depending on the country? I prefer predictability in quality and that is one thing that McD gets right

Can confirm, I've tried Domino's in several countries and it tastes wildly different. The ones in Mexico are horrible.
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