McDonald’s ex-employee explains why the ice cream machine 'never works'

McDonald’s ice-creams are one of the most popular desserts on their menu. Yet, many people seem to have the disappointing experience of finding that their neighbourhood McDonald’s ice-cream machine seem to always be broken. This phenomenon has been experienced by many McDonald’s fans across the country, leading to fans wondering the reason for this.

As reported by Mirror, an ex-McDonald’s employee has revealed on a Reddit thread, the reason as to why the ice-cream machines at McDonald’s are always broken.

Why the ice-cream machine is broken so often

A McDonald’s fan posted on the Reddit forum ‘You Should Know,’ to ask why McDonald’s employees claim so often that the McFlurry and ice-cream machines are broken.

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A former employee of the fast-food giant claimed to know the answer and said, it is because the ice-cream machines are supposed to be cleaned every day, and since staff do not follow the stipulated cleaning schedule, the machine breaks down easily. The ex-McDonald's worker states,

As someone who used to work at McDonald’s, it’s because the ice cream machine is never cleaned.

I was told they are supposed to have it cleaned roughly every day, but they only clean it around every month.

Because it's not taken care of, it breaks down really easily. They end up having to call a repair man to come and fix it which takes forever, just for them to basically put some tape on it and call it a day.

It'll start working again only for it to break down a few days later, and rinse and repeat.

Reactions to the comment

Another ex-employee chimed in on the thread to respond to the earlier comment saying that the machines went from daily clean to weekly clean schedule during the 90s. The main reason the ice-cream machines broke down was user error as not enough mix was added by some employees before the overnight heat cycle.

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The employee states,

I worked at Macs in 90s and 00s. Machines went from daily clean to weekly clean when they introduced a new machine that self pasteurised every night.

User error became the main reason these machines were locked out, not enough mix added before the overnight heat cycle so it couldn't complete.

Poor morning manager would have to sort it which usually meant running another 6 hour heat cycle, and he'd get the grief from the customers for not having milkshakes...

Sources used:

Mirror: ‘Former McDonald's employee claims to know why ice cream machine 'never works'’

Reddit