The Mystery of the McDonald's Ice Cream Machines

Why is it so hard to get a McFlurry?!

In the past few years, I’ve been a more frequent visitor to McDonald’s. That’s because I have young children, and to young children, life doesn’t get much better than ‘chicken nuggets and chips!’ (as they call it).

But one thing struck me about our McDonald’s visits. The ice cream machine seemed to be down constantly.

At first I thought it was a problem with that particular restaurant – but then we moved a couple of miles away and I discovered the problem at another McDonald’s. I chalked it up to a UK thing – only to discover (thanks to the internet) that it’s not just kids in London missing out on McFlurrys.

So what gives?

According to a 2018 article, the McDonald’s ice cream machines must go through a ‘laborious cleaning cycle’ that takes the machines out of commission for hours. Parts must be removed and sanitized – and the cleaning process can take 4 hours to complete. And on top of that, the machines are known to be fickle, requiring constant maintenance.

“Get better machines” seems an obvious solution. But those machines at McDonald’s aren’t cheap. They cost $18,000 each, and are made by food-equipment giant Taylor. To add to insult to injury, when the machines break down, they can only be serviced by one of Taylor’s approved distributors – who charge McDonald’s franchisees thousands of dollars a year in maintenance contracts.

On top of that, the inner-workings of the machine are a mystery to the McDonald’s franchisees. According to a 2021 article in Wired, the machines have a secret menu that only the Taylor-approved distributors can access. The franchisees can’t check the machine’s vital signs, like the viscosity setting for milk and sugar ingredients or the meanings of various error messages.

It’s a frustrating situation – screaming for creative minds to help.

And then they did.

Jeremy O’Sullivan and Melisa Nelson created a gadget called Kytch. It’s about the size of a small paperback book, and connects to the McDonald’s ice cream machine. Once it’s connected, Kytch provides “remote control, real-time data & analytics, and AI powered predictive maintenance.”

In short, the mysterious ice cream machine won’t be so mysterious anymore.

According to the Wired interview, “Kytch acts as a surveillance bug inside the machine, intercepting and eavesdropping on communications between its components and sending them to a far friendlier user interface than the one Taylor intended.”

Not only does Kytch reveal the machine’s hidden internal data, it even suggests troubleshooting solutions via the web or an app.

Sounds like good news for McFlurry lovers everywhere, right?

Not so fast…

Neither Taylor or McDonald’s were happy about Kytch’s early success, and the companies have been battling for two years. Lawsuits now seem likely – and perhaps the reason behind the ice cream machine’s ‘hidden menu’ will be revealed in court.

But in the meantime, getting a McFlurry continues to be a game of chance – and other creative minds are here to help McDonald’s ice cream fans. The website www.mcbroken.com monitors the McDonald’s locations with working ice cream machines in the US.

But until some creative mind extends this service to the UK, my kids and I will continue rolling the dice – and in my case, hoping Dairy Queen brings their superior Blizzards to our shores…

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-Beth