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I don't understand the last sentence. If the machines are frequently broken, that damages the Macdonald's brand in the consumer's eyes. And if the franchisee's

I don't understand the last sentence. If the machines are frequently broken, that damages the Macdonald's brand in the consumer's eyes. And if the franchisee's are paying unnecessary costs, making a Macdonald's franchise less lucrative for the owner-operator, that will lead to fewer franchises renewals and new franchises in the future.

lbourdages 2y ago
I'm sure corporate has done the math and concluded that whatever money the machine provider pays them is higher than any expected losses in franchise revenue due to franchise owners quitting due to poor ice cream sales.
- imtringued 2y ago
  I'm pretty sure that ice cream is a high margin product like drinks and McDonald's has found an indirect way to extract most of the margins. The problem is that the technician service fees are a fixed cost designed to be revenue maximizing for the average restaurant. Franchises selling enough ice cream to pay the fixed costs stay in the game, the ones who don't simply keep them out of order. This is effectively a price discrimination strategy. By making the machine mandatory, they can offer the menu item in every restaurant, but they only have to collect money in proportion of ice cream revenue.
aeturnum 2y ago
There's an uncertain future cost (basically an externality that impacts McDonald corporate) but in return they get a nice premium now and immediate uncertainty for franchisees. It's possible it's overall a net negative for MD corporate, but it's also possible it's an overall economically profitable trade (even though it's clearly immoral).
mcdow 2y ago
Been a while since I first watched the video. I would imagine the ice cream machines are a relatively small part of the McDonald's business. As evidenced by the fact that McDonalds ice cream has been an issue for quite a while. I would imagine franchises of a similar caliber to McD's also exploit their owner-operators on a similar scale because they can, we just don't necessarily hear about it because McDonalds is the largest. McDonald's isn't known for its quality anyway. I've had my fair share of sketchy McDonalds experiences. McDs is as large as it is because it is cheap, convenient, and ubiquitous. McDonalds has no qualms with cutting corners on quality, as evidenced by its entire menu.
- 14 2y ago
  The days of cheap McDonald’s is long gone. I can get a meal served at a sit down cafe for about the same price now days.
  - WD-42 2y ago
    But it’s still just as poor quality, if not worse than before. Last time I ate there I bit down on something in my burger so hard I thought I broke a tooth. I’ll never eat it again.
  - yakz 2y ago
    McDonald’s pricing is complicated. You can still get cheap McDonald’s, but it requires giving them something in return (e.g. information about you).
    - qingcharles 2y ago
      Indeed, you can practically eat for free regularly at McD's if you use the app.
      - nick3443 2y ago
        Ehh I've used the app for a while, that's a bit of an exaggeration. But you get some"good' prices.
      - justsomehnguy 2y ago
        > Indeed, you can practically eat for free regularly at McD's if you use the app. Bwahahah! Not only you give data about you but now you are actively prefer to eat at McD instead of any other option and you are not even thinking about it.
- listenallyall 2y ago
  I'd suggest the quality of McDonald's ingredients is superior than the vast majority of restaurants that rely on Sysco or US Foods. Just my opinion, I know it's not going to convince anyone whose mind is already made up about McDonald's.
wvenable 2y ago
Modern capitalism isn't particularly rational. Money in the pocket is more tangible than minor brand damage. If you want to be really cynical, you can assume that somebody at McDonald's and Taylor have crunched the numbers they know exactly how much they can squeeze their franchisees and the customer to effectively make money out of nothing. So many businesses operate this way now.
mschuster91 2y ago
> I don't understand the last sentence. If the machines are frequently broken, that damages the Macdonald's brand in the consumer's eyes. Try to quantify that to the MBA bean counters, good luck. No one cares about ice cream from Mc f..ing Donald's, given that most employees in fast food stores are high school kids and I got the runs more than once from that shit, I don't trust them anyway to follow up with the stringent hygiene requirements that serving ice cream demands. Burger patties at least are grilled/fried.
- vidarh 2y ago
  > No one cares about ice cream from Mc f..ing Donald's People care enough that there's a website mapping working McDonalds icecream machines across several countries, that has been up for years, and was referenced in the linked article: https://mcbroken.com/ https://mcbroken.com/ Quite a few places where softserve ice cream is not that widespread, McDonalds is one of the most reliable places to be able to find it.
valbaca 2y ago
> If the machines are frequently broken, that damages the Macdonald's brand in the consumer's eyes. They are and it doesn't matter. You don't go to McD for the ice cream. It's been a running joke for decades how they're always broken.
- tbrownaw 2y ago
  > You don't go to McD for the ice cream. Yeah. 'cause they don't have any 'cause the machine's broken.
tedunangst 2y ago
I like how the answers include both "they've done the math and it's worth it" and "they're idiots who don't know what they're doing". I don't think anybody cares what's really going on, as long as they can say McDonald's is bad.
dangus 2y ago
I think the machines are broken way less often than people give McDonald's negativity over. In my estimation that's probably why corporate hasn't cared to fix the problem until recently. Sure, a lot of people notice when they're broken, but a lot of people notice when AWS is down for an hour ~one time a year, too. On top of that, depending where you are if your local McDonald's has a broken ice cream machine you probably aren't all that far away from another one. Perhaps corporate gets their sale either way?

lbourdages 2y ago

I'm sure corporate has done the math and concluded that whatever money the machine provider pays them is higher than any expected losses in franchise revenue due to franchise owners quitting due to poor ice cream sales.

imtringued 2y ago
I'm pretty sure that ice cream is a high margin product like drinks and McDonald's has found an indirect way to extract most of the margins. The problem is that the technician service fees are a fixed cost designed to be revenue maximizing for the average restaurant. Franchises selling enough ice cream to pay the fixed costs stay in the game, the ones who don't simply keep them out of order. This is effectively a price discrimination strategy. By making the machine mandatory, they can offer the menu item in every restaurant, but they only have to collect money in proportion of ice cream revenue.

aeturnum 2y ago

There's an uncertain future cost (basically an externality that impacts McDonald corporate) but in return they get a nice premium now and immediate uncertainty for franchisees. It's possible it's overall a net negative for MD corporate, but it's also possible it's an overall economically profitable trade (even though it's clearly immoral).

mcdow 2y ago

Been a while since I first watched the video. I would imagine the ice cream machines are a relatively small part of the McDonald's business. As evidenced by the fact that McDonalds ice cream has been an issue for quite a while. I would imagine franchises of a similar caliber to McD's also exploit their owner-operators on a similar scale because they can, we just don't necessarily hear about it because McDonalds is the largest. McDonald's isn't known for its quality anyway. I've had my fair share of sketchy McDonalds experiences. McDs is as large as it is because it is cheap, convenient, and ubiquitous. McDonalds has no qualms with cutting corners on quality, as evidenced by its entire menu.

14 2y ago
The days of cheap McDonald’s is long gone. I can get a meal served at a sit down cafe for about the same price now days.
- WD-42 2y ago
  But it’s still just as poor quality, if not worse than before. Last time I ate there I bit down on something in my burger so hard I thought I broke a tooth. I’ll never eat it again.
- yakz 2y ago
  McDonald’s pricing is complicated. You can still get cheap McDonald’s, but it requires giving them something in return (e.g. information about you).
  - qingcharles 2y ago
    Indeed, you can practically eat for free regularly at McD's if you use the app.
    - nick3443 2y ago
      Ehh I've used the app for a while, that's a bit of an exaggeration. But you get some"good' prices.
    - justsomehnguy 2y ago
      > Indeed, you can practically eat for free regularly at McD's if you use the app. Bwahahah! Not only you give data about you but now you are actively prefer to eat at McD instead of any other option and you are not even thinking about it.
listenallyall 2y ago
I'd suggest the quality of McDonald's ingredients is superior than the vast majority of restaurants that rely on Sysco or US Foods. Just my opinion, I know it's not going to convince anyone whose mind is already made up about McDonald's.

wvenable 2y ago

Modern capitalism isn't particularly rational. Money in the pocket is more tangible than minor brand damage. If you want to be really cynical, you can assume that somebody at McDonald's and Taylor have crunched the numbers they know exactly how much they can squeeze their franchisees and the customer to effectively make money out of nothing. So many businesses operate this way now.

mschuster91 2y ago

> I don't understand the last sentence. If the machines are frequently broken, that damages the Macdonald's brand in the consumer's eyes. Try to quantify that to the MBA bean counters, good luck. No one cares about ice cream from Mc f..ing Donald's, given that most employees in fast food stores are high school kids and I got the runs more than once from that shit, I don't trust them anyway to follow up with the stringent hygiene requirements that serving ice cream demands. Burger patties at least are grilled/fried.

vidarh 2y ago
> No one cares about ice cream from Mc f..ing Donald's People care enough that there's a website mapping working McDonalds icecream machines across several countries, that has been up for years, and was referenced in the linked article: https://mcbroken.com/ https://mcbroken.com/ Quite a few places where softserve ice cream is not that widespread, McDonalds is one of the most reliable places to be able to find it.

valbaca 2y ago

> If the machines are frequently broken, that damages the Macdonald's brand in the consumer's eyes. They are and it doesn't matter. You don't go to McD for the ice cream. It's been a running joke for decades how they're always broken.

tbrownaw 2y ago
> You don't go to McD for the ice cream. Yeah. 'cause they don't have any 'cause the machine's broken.

tedunangst 2y ago

I like how the answers include both "they've done the math and it's worth it" and "they're idiots who don't know what they're doing". I don't think anybody cares what's really going on, as long as they can say McDonald's is bad.

dangus 2y ago

I think the machines are broken way less often than people give McDonald's negativity over. In my estimation that's probably why corporate hasn't cared to fix the problem until recently. Sure, a lot of people notice when they're broken, but a lot of people notice when AWS is down for an hour ~one time a year, too. On top of that, depending where you are if your local McDonald's has a broken ice cream machine you probably aren't all that far away from another one. Perhaps corporate gets their sale either way?