Here's What's Been Happening in the Lawsuit Involving Mcdonald's Ice Cream Machines

For the longest time, McDonald’s soft-serve ice cream machines have been the butt of many jokes, since they seem to be broken more often than not. In fact, Wired reports that McDonald's ice cream machines are usually broken in almost 10% of its restaurants.

However, something more sinister seems to be afoot and has now taken on the form of a lawsuit. No, it's not a bunch of unhappy soft-serve enthusiasts filing a class-action lawsuit against McDonald’s for not delivering on the promise of frozen sweets. The lawsuit is actually a bit more complicated and involves soft-serve machine-specific technology. However, it does provide some answers as to why it can be so difficult to get an ice cream cone from the global fast-food chain.

Here’s what you need to know.

Technically, no. The two parties involved in this legal battle are Kytch, a tech startup, and Taylor, the company that manufactures McDonald’s ice cream machines. In 2019, Kytch created a tool that would let McDonald’s restaurant owners hack glitchy ice cream machines to get them up and running again. Considering how often the machines seem to break down, the tool was essential. Shortly thereafter, Taylor created its own tool to hack (and fix) the machines. By November 2020, McDonald's was instructing its franchisees to not use the Kytch device. Kytch then filed their lawsuit against Taylor in April 2021, according to Wired.

Kytch is now suing Taylor, alleging that the manufacturer, in creating the Shake Sundae Connectivity tool, copied the startup and intended to sabotage the smaller company. This summer, Taylor was compelled to submit over 800 pages of internal documents in relation to the suit.

Yes, and no. While McDonald's workers haven’t orchestrated any sort of dastardly plot to avoid serving you ice cream, the lawsuit has uncovered some shady dealings by Taylor. In the 800 pages of documents turned over to the court, emails from a Taylor executive showed that the manufacturer may actually have deliberately copied the Kytch device, according to the Wall Street Journal. One Taylor executive reportedly instructed an employee to purchase the Kytch tool and provide “a written evaluation on the hardware and software,” the Wall Street Journal writes.

McDonald’s is not entirely innocent in the matter either, according to Wired. The publication reported that in 2020 McDonald’s sent a memo to franchisees instructing them not to use the Kytch product, and to instead use the Taylor-made Shake Sundae Connectivity. When franchisees reported that the device made by Taylor wasn’t as efficient in treating the broken machines, McDonald’s allegedly claimed that the use of the Kytch device posed a physical safety risk. Kytch called this memo “defamatory.”

In multiple statements to the press, McDonald’s denied any participation in a conspiracy to destroy Kitch.

“McDonald’s has never attempted to copy or steal Kytch’s technology,” a McDonald’s representative told Wired. Taylor, for its part, has denied all of Kytch’s accusations and has filed its own court documents indicating that the Shake Sundae Connectivity device was developed independently from Kytch’s creation.

Like any lawsuit, the battle between Kytch and Taylor isn’t likely to be resolved quickly. The case will continue to develop, and there will probably be more information shared about both companies' dealings in the meantime. All of this conflict and discussion about broken ice cream machines has, however, caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission, per the Wall Street Journal. It’s not clear if any of this will result in getting a soft serve cone on a more consistent basis, but one can only hope.

In the meantime, check the status of your local McDonald’s ice cream machine at McBroken.com.

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