Ice Cream Fixin’s

Posted on Nov 26, 2024 by

When I was in junior high, my buddies and I would walk to McDonald’s after Friday night dances. On one occasion, my buddy, Tree, ordered a hot fudge sundae. The person taking his order asked if he wanted his nuts crushed and he immediately replied, “Good God, no!” She turned beet red and rushed off to fill his order.

McDonald’s first introduced caramel, strawberry and fudge sundaes in 1978, despite having served ice cream since the 1940s. In 1956, Ray Kroc, the mastermind behind McDonald’s franchise business, made a handshake agreement with the Taylor Company to be the exclusive supplier of ice cream machines for the chain. The two companies still work together today.

The most prominent of the machines is the Taylor C602, which is used in over a quarter of the 40,000 McDonald’s restaurants. The machine, which costs around $18,000, produces shakes and ice cream desserts, including soft serve cones, sundaes and McFlurries, which McDonald’s rolled out in 1997 to compete with Dairy Queen’s Blizzards. The treat features ice cream mixed with chunks of candy or cookies.

The Taylor C602 is responsible for making some of the most delicious frozen desserts around – so long as they’re working. The machine is notorious for reliability issues and is the subject of internet memes posted by frustrated customers. The phenomenon has led to McBroken.com, a website that tracks which ice cream machines at McDonald’s are out of commission. Right now, almost 15% of the machines aren’t working. In 2021, the Federal Trade Commission even investigated complaints by McDonald’s franchise owners who said they were losing $625 a day due to the ice cream machines breaking down.

McDonald’s employees, however, were powerless to fix them. Taylor fits the ice cream makers with digital locks so that repairs may only be done by a manufacturer-authorized technician, which usually takes around 90 days. A provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act made it illegal for a third party, such as a McDonald’s franchise owner or employee, to bypass the digital lock.

Recognizing the problem, Jeremy O’Sullivan and his partner, Melissa Nelson, created an electronic device called Kytch, which comes in the size of a mobile phone and is planted inside Taylor’s machine. The device intercepts the machine’s internal communications and sends them via Wi-Fi to a smartphone or web interface, where owners can identify the problem.

Kytch was a huge success and was sold to hundreds of franchisees. However, in 2021, McDonald’s sent out notices warning franchisees that the technology could lead to worker injuries. O’Sullivan and Nelson subsequently sued both McDonald’s and Taylor, saying the decision deprived them of competing in the marketplace and cost them over $900 million.

Because of the national attention this situation garnered, last month the U.S. Copyright Office granted an exemption from existing copyright law, giving McDonald’s and other restaurants broader approval to repair “retail-level commercial food preparation equipment” without having to go through the manufacturer. Commercial food preparation equipment, such as Taylor’s ice cream machines, can now be repaired “without needing to rely on costly service calls or manufacturer intervention.”

The exemption applies to all retail-level commercial food preparation equipment – not just McDonald’s ice cream machines. While helpful, supporters of what is known as the “right to repair” exemption hope it will someday be broadened to include owners of all equipment, such as John Deere tractors, which has had an experience like McDonald’s.

While I love McDonald’s ice cream, I really miss their McDonaldland cookies. These delicious treats came in the shapes of McDonald’s characters, but they were discontinued in 2004. Come to think of it, a lot of those cookies were broken, too.



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Reg P. Wydeven

Elder Law and Estate Planning Attorney at McCarty Law LLP
Hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps from a young age, Reg’s practice primarily consists of advising individuals on estate planning, estate settlement and elder law matters. As Reg represents clients in matters like guardianship proceedings and long-term care admissions, he feels grateful to be able to offer families thorough legal help in their time of need.
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