McDonald's Sued for $900 Million Over Broken Ice Cream Machine Business - IGN Now

McDonald's is getting a soft serving of a lawsuit from a start-up company. This story, originally reported by WIRED, involves the start-up Kytch and McDonalds, with the lawsuit referencing emails that apparently claim their device violated warranties, intercepted "confidential information", and risked causing "serious human injury". The company that created the device to help troubleshoot the ice cream machines is suing McDonald for $900 million dollars, claiming that McDonald bosses ordered their tried and true devices be removed back in November of 2020. The lawsuit also claims McDonald's defamed the company's name, when all Kytch wanted to do is make sure that delicious frozen goodness keeps flowing into cups and cones in various locations.

#IGN

[Loremastrful]

Dude, you're missing out on an intriguing story full of soft serve, betrayal and despair.
So these guys saw a problem with the constantly breaking ice cream machines and like any engineer worked on a solution. They developed Kytch that would send a txt message of what is precisely wrong with the machine. instead of some archaic computer code it would translate it to 'cleaning cycle incomplete' or 'cookie crumbs in the filter'. It make the difference between a quick repair and a long length downtime. Managers loved it and soon it gets back to Corporate.

You'll have check the Wired story for details. Either Kytch goes to McDonalds to get approval or McDonalds calls them in. They ask for a prototype to study and see if it meets their legal obligations. After a few days they return in it, say they're going in a different direction. Days after THAT, Kytch hears from managers that McDonald's put the whole 'cease and desist' on using Kytch's device and promises that the ice cream makers will have a device that does what Kytch does in a ridiculously short amount of time. (like building it from scratch would take a couple years and Soft Serve inc promises it in 9 months). To the casual observer, McDonald's took the Kytch device to Soft Serve do duplicate the device and cut Kytch out. And on top of all this McDonald's never asks Soft Serve why their machines break down so often. Almost as if this is a racket. Soft Serve sells their makers and makes money on the back end on repairs. And some middle manager in the corporate structure gets a kickback for keeping this problem off McDonald's radar.

please do not take my word as gospel. Go to Wired, read the story and learn for yourself.

[Dancosparado]

Honestly this was a long time coming, how the hell is it that every machine is broken all the time.

[FRISHR]

Thanks to Johnny Harris for exposing McDonald’s shady ice cream business to the public.

[heartmanga]

Never would have thought to see news about McDonald’s coming from IGN

[thetruthserum]

If you research... McDonalds was using the flaw in the ice cream machines to force franchise owners to use the in house repair services that cost hundreds of dollars to service, every time. So, since this "in house repair" service costed so much, and the machines kept breaking for simple stuff that shouldn't cost a restaurant owner $250 to repair 4 times a year. So this other company, that was basically started by a guy that "just wanted to be able to get soft serve", set out to solve the problem. Turns out, the machine that McDonalds chose was a big lemon, even though the vendor had other machines that were more reliable, etc... So, it makes one wonder what other "made to break" type "only we can service" type repair expenses that McDonalds takes from their franchisees every year. I'm sure there is a total "repair services" that only McDonalds says they can perform... "In house repair racket"... $900Million indeed, once you see how dirty this is.

[CV-lmpv]

So the inventors feel defamed and believe McDonald's damaged their image and business. They have a point and McDonald's will have a lot to prove, specially in the "safety" department

[PLAYER_]

It might seem like a meme, but this story points to deeper issues of Right to Repair, and how large companies like McDs always contract with proprietary tech vendors, so that if something goes wrong, it can shut down the machines until a company contracted tech comes out and fixes it... Versus having a third party technician, or just the employees fix and maintain the machines, themselves. You can find more details online, but this is the far reaching implications of the case. Mickey D's is trying to maintain the status quo to keep the Ice Cream Machine makers in business instead of serve the public need (for ice cream) and make the employees lives easier if and when it breaks down.

[TheGrandOptimist]

Honestly if most McDonalds stores can't consistently serve ice cream, then they need to take ice cream off the menu. No sense in having it if you can't serve it.

[derektereve]

From what my friend who used to work at McDonald's told me, it's not a case of the ice cream machine being broken, it's a case of the employees don't want to take the time to clean the machine, so they just lie and say it's broken

[pinprimer]

"Where does the serious injury come from?" Tell me you've never worked fast food without saying it. Cut my hands plenty of times on metal pieces that where milled terribly.

[officialnucky]

Glad it's not just in the UK these machines are constantly "broken"

[MusicallyQ]

*Franchises, especially in fast food, still have corporate looking after the stores.*
*They also expect the store to be ran to company standards, and it's in the contract for the franchisee.*

[MediCali]

Crazy how the guy who stole McDonald’s from the original owners started off selling ice cream machines and here we are now. Full circle 😂

[heart_of_a_daedra]

The machines lock you out if you haven’t ran the deep clean within 7 days, and the staff cba to do it so no ice cream for you, source - ex employee.

[Matt-cd]

Just fire McDonalds workers if they don't get a set amount of ice cream sales a week

[ChicagoDefense]

Thank you!!! Finally!! There is no way every McDonalds in America has a broken ice cream machine after a certain time of day.

[NoExplosionsMcgee]

I'm surprised that this didn't happen sooner given how common this issue has been for Mcee D's for years. Lol

[alexhyatt]

Kytch: I'm gonna sue you
McDonald: suing machine broke
Kytch: understandable, have a great day

[ravenmena]

The "Sorry Ice machine broken" meme aged like wine.

[CrimsonSteelMoonTheWolf]

Another reason to support right to repair. The ice cream machines are proprietary in design requiring a authorized technician to come in and fix it . Sometimes it takes months before a tech will come over and fix it.