McDonald’s Infamous McFlurry Machines Are At The Center Of An Icy Legal Battle
Images via pancha.me / Shutterstock.com and Fazrulejoy / Shutterstock.com
While McDonald’s McFlurry machines have become a long-standing joke among diners, the problems surrounding the infamous ice cream machine seems to be getting even more serious, as per a new VICE report.
Last month, on July 30, the company Kytch received approval for a restraining order against Taylor, the manufacturer of the McFlurry machines.
Before a recent rule change, only certified technicians from Taylor could fix the machines when they broke down. The process takes a while too, requiring the technician to disassemble parts of the machine before starting a four-hour sanitation process. That’s why the machines take ages to fix.
According to Mental Floss, Kytch had been the first company to allow its franchises to repair McFlurry dispensers without relying on Taylor technicians.
It installed a small, Wi-Fi device inside the machines, which collected data about their use, allowing it to identify the problem and solution should the machines fail to work. This allowed employees at McDonald’s to finally fix the equipment themselves.
However, as expected, Taylor wasn’t too happy about this change. The complaint alleges that the company spread rumors about Kytch’s products being dangerous to use, which many investors and restaurant owners eventually believed. Taylor had also gotten hold of the devices, and was studying them to expose Kytch’s trade secrets, according to the restraining order.
Taylor’s COO had a different take on the matter, having said in the court that the company obtained the device “in order to evaluate and assess its potential technology-related impacts upon our Soft Serve Machine—such as whether the radio frequency of the Kytch device would interfere with our software signal, or whether the Kytch device would drain the power source of our software and/or cause it malfunction.”
With the new restraining order successfully awarded to Kytch, Taylor has been forced to surrender all devices it has collected, and is forbidden from obtaining them in the future. This could be great news for McDonald’s diners—with the Kytch device still in use, it means less time might be taken to fix wonky McFlurry machines.
Who knew ice cream machines could be so contentious?
[via Mental Floss, cover image via pancha.me / Shutterstock.com and Fazrulejoy / Shutterstock.com]
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