[synchronizing]

Johnny Harris (filmmaker journalist) made a great video on topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrDEtSlqJC4

In short, McDonald's continues to use these frequently malfunctioning ice cream machines due to their long-standing exclusive partnership with Taylor. The cost of repairs fall on the local franchise owners, not McD Corp.

[jonny_eh]

And it's not clear if or how McD Corp profits from the exclusivity partnership.

[SoftTalker]

They require Taylor machines for product consistency. Same reason they sell Coca Cola (legend has it this was a handshake agreement made by Ray Kroc and still is) and a franchisee can't decide he's going to serve Pepsi.

[mrguyorama]

No, they require everyone use THE SAME MACHINE for consistency. Nothing about that requires them to use an ancient machine that is constantly broken with an abysmal service contract.

McDonalds has Walmart level bargaining powers with vendors. The current setup, where a machine breaks and you have to call a specific technician for insane rates is not an accident. McDonalds could change that tomorrow if they felt like it. No business relationship at McDonald's scale will ever be tilted away from their benefit.

[SoftTalker]

The ancient machines were more reliable. I worked at a McDonalds for about 5 years in the 1980s and cannot recall one day when the Taylor machines didn't work.

The old machines had higher training and labor costs though, and over thousands of stores this was an issue. Presumably the newer machines are overall less expensive, even accounting for the lost sales on days where they are offline, and the associated repair costs. They may also be necessary for the newer ice cream products. In my day we only had vanilla soft-serve (cones or sundaes) and shakes with three flavors.

McDonald's isn't in business to keep Taylor repair techs employed. If it was costing them more than the alternatives, they would make a change.