According to reports, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is studying issues with McDonald’s ice cream machines that have for years become the backbone of competition jokes and have sparked widespread complaints from customers and franchisees.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the FTC sent a letter over the summer to McDonald’s franchise owners looking for details on reported problems with machines intended to beat smoothies, soft cones and the popular McFlurry, a cup of soft ice cream. mixed with sweets and cookies.
McDonald’s store owners have said the machines are difficult to repair and require an automated heat cleaning cycle every night that can fail, requiring technicians to get the machines back on.
According to the newspaper, the FTC wants to know the suppliers of the machines and whether restaurant employees can work on the machines or not.
A survey conducted by research company Technomic Inc. revealed that ice cream machines account for about 60 percent of the chain’s dessert sales in the U.S., according to the newspaper.
Repeated breakdowns have led to online requests from customers requesting changes, and an online tracker called McBroken monitors and allows users to know reports of machine outages in cities.
McDonald’s itself has tried to make fun of the issue, tweeting in August 2020:we have a joke about our soft service machine, but we’re worried it won’t work. ”
we have a joke about our soft service machine, but we worry that it won’t work
– McDonald’s (@McDonalds) August 11, 2020
The Hill has contacted the FTC for comments on the reported probe.
McDonald’s USA said in a statement to The Hill that it had “no reason to believe we are the center of an FTC investigation.”
“Nothing is more important to us than meeting our high standards of food quality and safety, which is why we work with fully verified partners who can provide large-scale safe solutions reliably,” McDonald’s said.
McDonald’s confirmed to The Hill that it recognizes the frustration of customers who have been unable to buy dessert due to broken ice cream machines, adding that the company has set up a team to deal with the problem.
The company also said it plans to implement new training to help staff better deal with the problems of broken machines, as well as constant maintenance checks on franchises.