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McDonalds owns the company that makes and fixes these machines, and franchise owners foot the bill. It's a way of taking more money from franchise owners.

mattmaroon 2y ago
They do not, this is disinformation. The machines are manufactured by Taylor for McDonald’s and maintained by Taylor’s service network. Taylor’s the largest manufacturer of commercial ice cream making equipment in the US. Franchisees also have the option of using Carpigiani machines, but they’re Italian so parts and service are not as easy to come by. And all ice cream machines are known for being easy to break, especially if used by poorly trained teenagers. This also makes no sense, if McDonald’s wanted to make more off the franchisees from ice cream, surely they’d rather do it by having the machines work (so they can sell product). They sell the mix that goes in the machine to the franchisees. It would be idiotic to try to gouge them by making the machine crappy rather than just charging them more for the mix and using a good machine. Then they wouldn’t need to employ these imaginary service techs and the franchisees would be happier with the situation.
- CamperBob2 2y ago
  Then why is the situation what it is? As numerous people have pointed out, other fast-food chains don't have this problem. They are able to provide ice-cream products that are consistently free of either toxins or excuses. Occam's Razor suggests that the most likely explanation is that the McDonald's Corporation is deliberately setting their franchisees up to fail by continuing to sign contracts with Taylor. Which I agree makes no sense.
  - mattmaroon 2y ago
    That’s not what Occam’s razor would suggest at all. That’s a silly conspiracy theory that’s easily verified as false if you know anything about the ice cream industry or just bother to Google who makes the machines. Occam’s razor might suggest that their competitors use a different machine entirely (I really don’t know but Wikipedia’s page on Taylor only mentions McDonald’s). McDonald’s corporate making a bad decision about a machine seems a whole lot simpler than some convoluted conspiracy theory, doesn’t it?
    - CamperBob2 2y ago
      McDonald’s corporate making a bad decision about a machine seems a whole lot simpler than some convoluted conspiracy theory, doesn’t it? That excuse wears thin after 10+ years.
      - mattmaroon 2y ago
        It’s not an excuse, almost everyone agrees they screwed up. But it’s an explanation. They likely signed a long term contract. Then a few years ago they allowed franchisees to use another brand.
      - dmix 2y ago
        Accountants at these places evaluate the cost of replacing all the machines with a new vendor while still paying out the old contract vs internet comments I’m sure they’ve done the math somewhere, and possibly determined this is more of a meme than an IRL business liability
        mattmaroon 2y ago
        It should be noted that even though McDonald’s began allowing franchisees to use another brand years ago, most still do not.
Reason077 2y ago
That’s not correct. Taylor Company, who supply the notorious C602 ice cream machine to more than 13,000 McDonalds franchises, is owned by Middleby Corporation of Elgin, Illinois since 2018. Previously it was part of United Technologies’ climate & controls (Carrier) unit. [1] Not all McDonalds use the Taylor machines. Some use machines from other manufacturers such as Carpigiani [2] [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Company https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Company [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpigiani https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpigiani

mattmaroon 2y ago

They do not, this is disinformation. The machines are manufactured by Taylor for McDonald’s and maintained by Taylor’s service network. Taylor’s the largest manufacturer of commercial ice cream making equipment in the US. Franchisees also have the option of using Carpigiani machines, but they’re Italian so parts and service are not as easy to come by. And all ice cream machines are known for being easy to break, especially if used by poorly trained teenagers. This also makes no sense, if McDonald’s wanted to make more off the franchisees from ice cream, surely they’d rather do it by having the machines work (so they can sell product). They sell the mix that goes in the machine to the franchisees. It would be idiotic to try to gouge them by making the machine crappy rather than just charging them more for the mix and using a good machine. Then they wouldn’t need to employ these imaginary service techs and the franchisees would be happier with the situation.

CamperBob2 2y ago
Then why is the situation what it is? As numerous people have pointed out, other fast-food chains don't have this problem. They are able to provide ice-cream products that are consistently free of either toxins or excuses. Occam's Razor suggests that the most likely explanation is that the McDonald's Corporation is deliberately setting their franchisees up to fail by continuing to sign contracts with Taylor. Which I agree makes no sense.
- mattmaroon 2y ago
  That’s not what Occam’s razor would suggest at all. That’s a silly conspiracy theory that’s easily verified as false if you know anything about the ice cream industry or just bother to Google who makes the machines. Occam’s razor might suggest that their competitors use a different machine entirely (I really don’t know but Wikipedia’s page on Taylor only mentions McDonald’s). McDonald’s corporate making a bad decision about a machine seems a whole lot simpler than some convoluted conspiracy theory, doesn’t it?
  - CamperBob2 2y ago
    McDonald’s corporate making a bad decision about a machine seems a whole lot simpler than some convoluted conspiracy theory, doesn’t it? That excuse wears thin after 10+ years.
    - mattmaroon 2y ago
      It’s not an excuse, almost everyone agrees they screwed up. But it’s an explanation. They likely signed a long term contract. Then a few years ago they allowed franchisees to use another brand.
    - dmix 2y ago
      Accountants at these places evaluate the cost of replacing all the machines with a new vendor while still paying out the old contract vs internet comments I’m sure they’ve done the math somewhere, and possibly determined this is more of a meme than an IRL business liability
      - mattmaroon 2y ago
        It should be noted that even though McDonald’s began allowing franchisees to use another brand years ago, most still do not.

Reason077 2y ago

That’s not correct. Taylor Company, who supply the notorious C602 ice cream machine to more than 13,000 McDonalds franchises, is owned by Middleby Corporation of Elgin, Illinois since 2018. Previously it was part of United Technologies’ climate & controls (Carrier) unit. [1] Not all McDonalds use the Taylor machines. Some use machines from other manufacturers such as Carpigiani [2] [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Company https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Company [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpigiani https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpigiani