McDonald’s Faces a Milk-Shakedown

Why is the McFlurry machine always broken? The FTC also wants to know

McDonald’s McFlurry machine is famous for great ice cream and for never being able to serve said ice cream. The machine is out-of-order so frequently that it’s become a long-running joke (read: big customer bugbear). Even the company couldn’t help but poke fun at the problem, tweeting, “We have a joke about our soft serve machine but we’re worried it won’t work.”

Customers have continually made their disappointment heard, and it’s now the most common complaint. Conspiracy theories have grown louder, including the popular one that McDonald’s employees intentionally lie about the machine being broken to avoid making shakes and McFlurries. (As a former hospitality worker, this is likely true in some cases). Websites like Mcbroken were created to help customers satisfy their ice-cream cravings, which show the operating status of the machines in real-time by using a system that orders a McFlurry from every restaurant every 30 minutes, noting which orders fail due to an error.

And now, the Federal Trade Commission wants to know why the machines are always broken, believing the issue could be “potentially in violation of antitrust law.”