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

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141–150 of 151 posts

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

#141
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

McD tastes the same because all ingredients come from the same place. Ever wondered why McDonald’s tastes like cardboard everywhere in the world? That’s why.

> McD tastes the same because all ingredients come from the same place. Do you know how expensive McDonald's would be if this were true?

I get your point, but do you realize your clothes are made in china? Sometimes with cotton from Brazil, styled in America on even another country?

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

#142
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering they are connected to each other electrically, yes!

No, because it's already broken. That's the point that was being made and you are not addressing that here.

Your car's broken: oil pan needs to be replaced and it's in the shop. $2,000 repair.

While it's in the shop, it falls off the lift: $10,000 damage. Now your formerly "broken" car is even more broken? Is the situation still the same?

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

#143

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?

I think OP is being specific. The civil complaint is not particularly interesting, I agree, but the overall saga is.

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

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just the food, but the people you meet later in life at 3am hanging outside of FEBO that your mother was trying to protect you from, Jacques.

That's got to be it. But I got to know you anyway... ;)

Hey I wasn't there to actually eat! I was just stopping by to check and make sure you weren't there. But there you were! Shame on you, hanging out and window shopping at the red light district of fast foods.

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

#145
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One part of this I don't understand is why would McDonald's benefit from their franchises constantly needing their ice cream machines serviced.

“Kytch points to documents from the time of Taylor's acquisition by Middleby in 2018 that show the company receives close to 25 of its revenue—from all its customers, not just McDonald's—via repair contracts with Taylor distributors, which Kytch argues provides an incentive to maintain the machines' fragility.“ The missing piece is the kickback to McDonald’s, or a similar financial incentive from Taylor to maintain t…

Well is that repair contract a retainer? i.e., "I pay you $10,000/year and every time my machine breaks you send out a tech within 4 hours to fix it at no extra cost? or is the actual cost of repairs the customer incurs?

If it's the first (and I think it is), then Taylor has every incentive to make the machines as reliable as possible. Service calls are expensive and most companies don't make a lot of money doing them. OTOH, a service contract (e.g., maintenance contract in software) is often lucrative because the customer is buying peace of mind. Years can go by in which the contract isn't needed and the seller (Taylor) pockets the cash, but the buyer keeps paying for it because it's cheap insurance.

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

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FEBO!!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FEBO Eating from the wall is like late night window shopping in Amsterdam's culinary red light district. https://uncloggedblog.com/2013/12/10/five-ways-to-see-amster... >Window-shopping for fast food at FEBO. >If you must, eat from the wall at FEBO, an inexplicably popular Dutch tradition that satisfies appetites 24/7 with automated fast food displayed in tiny windows. No telling…

Some history: FeBo stands for 'Ferdinand Bol', a street in the 'Pijp' district of Amsterdam, where it originated. When I was a small child (1971, 6 yo) we moved into that neighborhood and I remember them from then. My mom expressly forbidding us kids from eating whatever they offered because it was deemed to be just one small notch above garbage. And I'm not sure that that wasn't on the money with respect to what goe…

Oh wow! Thanks for that gem. I have managed to never eat from FEBO but the next time somebody suggests it, I can add a little nerdy know-it-all to my snub :-P

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

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 (…

McDonalds in the US is generally cheaper than the same in the rest of the world. The company decided they don't like being the value option and so raised prices trying to seem premium. I don't eat there at home, I'm not interested in trying them in other countries.

I still giggle at how McD tried to market itself as the "healthy" option, especially targeting "girls and women", at least here in Germany, with Heidi Klum and some of her Germany's Next Topmodels as the advertisement figures. They even changed their logo from red + gold to green + gold. That was a few years back.

Right... I am convinced now :P

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

#148
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering they are connected to each other electrically, yes!

No, because it's already broken. That's the point that was being made and you are not addressing that here.

What sort of argumentation is this? You know full well that something broken in one regard can be further broken in an unrelated regard.

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

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Irresponsible? I don't know, maybe? What responsibility does Taylor have to Kytch in the first place? Certainly no obligation to say "Their product is safe to use on our machine."

Defamatory? I don't think so, but I guess the courts will decide.

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

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe because McDonald's and/or Taylor think the average McDonald's employee is less reliable than the industry average restaurant worker. Or maybe McDonald's simply tolerates less liability than the rest and requested the machines be configured in this way. As far as I'm aware, McDonald's hasn't sued Taylor over this, maybe because it was their idea in the first place?

It is the franchisee who pays for repairs. Of course it was McD's idea. They make a cut.

I haven't seen any actual evidence that Taylor is giving kickbacks to McDonald's. I've only a lot of insinuation and accusation of such a kickback, because the accusers don't seem to consider other possibilities. One possible reason other than a kickback: McDonald's wants the machines to error on the side of food safety and don't trust their own employees to not fuck it up.
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