7 ms·
I still don't understand why McDonald's is accepting a 10-20% "broken" status as remotely acceptable. Especially when its clear its solvable.
by abfan1127 3y ago
I still don't understand why McDonald's is accepting a 10-20% "broken" status as remotely acceptable. Especially when its clear its solvable.
- meepmorp 3y agoIt's not really McDonalds the corporation's problem - they get paid all the same, probably with some definitely-not-kickbacks from the manufacturer.
- krger 3y ago> they get paid all the same I haven't looked at a McDonalds franchise contract, but every QSR franchise contract I've seen requires the franchisee to pay the brand a percentage of each location's gross sales. Broken ice cream machine = less gross sales. Less gross sales = less money going to the brand. It's also not great for customer satisfaction.
- atlasunshrugged 3y agoYes, I looked into franchising many years ago and that was my recollection as well -- often groups also sell you the inputs/ingredients and force you to purchase through them to "maintain quality/consistency" which would seem to be another reason why McD would want more volume/sales.
- krger 3y ago> often groups also sell you the inputs/ingredients and force you to purchase through them to "maintain quality/consistency" QSR franchisees are famous for cutting every corner they can get away with (as well as cutting even more corners until they get caught by the brand or local health/labor inspectors), so maintaining quality and consistency is a very real concern for these brands.
- atlasunshrugged 3y agoYes, that's fair, but it's also a great way to guarantee recurring revenue for a franchisor whose franchisees are obligated to purchase from them
- dylan604 3y agoI thought we were talking about an ice cream machine and not an ink jet printer.
- atlasunshrugged 3y agoAll the same to the MBAs at these companies looking to squeeze the last penny out of everything
- kube-system 3y agoInkjet printers merely have DRM. Franchises have way more power; they have legally binding contracts.
- mike_d 3y agoI believe when this first came out it was highlighted that a lot of employees moved back and forth between McD and Taylor. The implication that residual stock or friends across town could influence the situation.
- krger 3y ago>The implication that residual stock or friends across town could influence the situation. Yes, that could explain why McDonalds execs would try to discourage franchisees from using Kytch. It doesn't, however, explain why McDonalds execs seem not to have a problem with 20% of their locations not being able to sell a product that people apparently like enough to complain when they can't get it, which is what the top-level comment was talking about.
- chankstein38 3y agoAren't most of their ice cream products like <$5? I recall the cones are only like $1. My guess would be that, if there is some kind of arrangement between McD's and Taylor, it's probably way more profitable than the losses they'd see from 10-13% of their ice cream machines being down per month.
- almostnormal 3y agoIsn't the cost of the ingredients some $0.2 (I have no idea, just estimating by the taste), so that machine is printing money when working? It's surprising they cannot build a machine that does not break that easily.
- kube-system 3y agoI wouldn't be so sure. Milk, cream, and sugar are relatively expensive ingredients, and labor is very expensive.
- bluGill 3y agoMilk/cream is not cheap. It takes a lot of energy to freeze that mixture as well. Most people don't try to measure this, but the ice in your soda probably costs more than the rest of the sugar water (in bulk/wholesale as restaurants buy soda, if you pay retails prices things are different)
- 0xy 3y agoWould McDonalds Corp rather sell let's say 1,000 ice creams for $1,000 total at a 2% cut ($20) or an ice cream machine repair (maybe $1,000)? They're fleecing the franchisees via repairs.
- tuukkah 3y agoThank you for pointing this out! This kind of a simple revenue calculation can be highly insightful.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Aloisius 3y agoWhy would McDonald's corporate be getting paid for machine repairs? The repairs are handled by local distributors of Taylor machines. Taylor itself makes money on replacement parts and machines. There haven't been any allegations of kickbacks to McDonald's corporate, so I don't get it.
- JoeAltmaier 3y agoApparently if the ice cream machine is broken, the franchise can move more product in other higher-margin categories. So no, it doesn't mean less gross sales.
- badwolf 3y agoYep. me: "I'll have a milkshake please" McD: "ice cream machine's broke" me: "ugh. Ok, I'll just have a coke"
- Kluggy 3y ago[dead]
- hoten 3y agoJohnny Harris (journalist) covered this story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrDEtSlqJC4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrDEtSlqJC4
- xvector 3y agoThis might be one of the worst videos I've ever seen. 30 minutes of video for about two paragraphs worth of content. Mind-bogglingly poor information density, it's like the video was deliberately stretched to 30 minutes for no reason other than the fact that he could. Terrible journalism. ChatGPT summary: > The video investigates why McDonald's ice cream machines are frequently broken. It reveals that the machines undergo a complex, four-hour cleaning cycle, often misinterpreted as a breakdown. Franchise owners are contractually obliged to use a specific machine model (C602) made by Taylor, which has a high failure rate. The malfunctioning machines, with cryptic error messages and user-unfriendly interfaces, necessitate expensive repairs by Taylor-authorized technicians. An entrepreneur developed an alternative device providing better feedback and reducing breakdowns, but McDonald's allegedly discouraged its use, favoring a less effective solution from a company related to Taylor. Every day GPT-4 becomes more useful for wading through the swath of bullshit.
- Lich 3y agoYeah, not a fan of Harris' videos at all. He defines journalism...differently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dum0bqWfiGw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dum0bqWfiGw
- hef19898 3y agoHe was good with "Borders", after that no so much. His "documentation" on the Soccer World Cup worker was, well, a repetition of what other journalista already reported on, with less detail and depth but sold in way to make it look like he was the oloy one uncovering it and risking his life doing so. So no, not a fan neither.
- hoten 3y agoSome audiences prefer a bit longer winded content with some entertainment value. Myself, I wouldn't have clicked on an article that discusses this story even if it would have taken me half the time to read it than watch it.
- smegger001 3y agobecause McDonalds corporate profits off of the deal with the manufacturer/servicer who in turn profits off of the McDonalds franchisees. The franchisees aren't given a choice of what machine and servicers they use as corporate dictates what model of machine they are allowed to use and who is allowed to perform service upon it. So Mcdonalds corporate doesn't care because they aren't the ones loosing money on sales or service fees as they don't run many of the restaurants fore them its a profit center.
- gruez 3y ago>because McDonalds corporate profits off of the deal with the manufacturer/servicer who in turn profits off of the McDonalds franchisees Is there more on this? If they can dig up CEO's emails surely they can dig up the financial arrangements between them and mcdonalds?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- pphysch 3y agoGiven all of the parties' (hacked) accounting books, how do you prove that "Foobar service/fee" is actually "illegal kickback"?
- gruez 3y ago1. If we're to take the plaintiffs at face value (ie. the email in question is really the "smoking gun", didn't bother hiding it, and just handed it over in discovery), then surely the defendants are too incompetent to hide the kickbacks? 2. That attitude is dangerously close to "unfalsifiable claim" territory. There's no evidence for your conspiracy? Well duh, it's all-powerful conspirators that we're dealing with. Of course there's going to be no evidence because they hid it all!
- pphysch 3y agoI'm just saying it's very easy to hide this sort of thing. A brief chat at the country club, totally off the record, is all they need to finalize a backroom deal. The prosecution even argued that the defendents were using Mafia-like language, according to TFA.
- uoaei 3y agoBecause it's never a moral question, it's always a financial one. And the finances shake out quasi-optimally for McDonald's the corporation.
- detourdog 3y agoMy guess is that they weren't measuring ice cream machine uptime. They were using some other metric. The franchisee is really the one loses sales to a down machine. Corporate McDs is satisfied with the revenue share and doesn't realize more ice cream could be sold.
- local_crmdgeon 3y agoBecause they don’t give a shit, just like every incumbent. It’s why institutions so quickly fall - no one gives a shit. Five Guys and Shake Shack do, and they’re eating McDonald’s lunch
- huytersd 3y agoWhat a joke. McDonald’s may not have the healthiest food but as a corporation they have things locked down. I’ve never seen a place run better at scale than McDonald’s inspite of the bottom of the barrel staff that’s available to them.
- local_crmdgeon 3y agoThe individual McDonald’s are run by franchisees. I’m talking about how corporate has really dropped the ball.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]