The McDonald's fast food chain has used multiple ice cream machines at its various locations, but the chain has primarily operated those made by the Taylor Company. In 1956, Ray Kroc, who would soon become the founding owner-operator of the McDonald's franchise business, made a handshake agreement with the Taylor Company to supply milkshake machines for the fast food chain as its exclusive supplier. The two companies have continued to cooperate to the present day.[1]
The most prominent of the machines is the Taylor C602, which is used in approximately 13,000 of the 40,000 McDonald's restaurants (as of 2021) and is notorious for reliability issues.[2][3][4] In 2000, an internal McDonald's survey revealed that a quarter of restaurants were reporting that the machines were nonfunctional. The machine is used to produce both shakes[a] and ice cream desserts, including soft serve cones, sundaes and McFlurries.[b] In recent years, McDonald's has allowed franchisees to instead purchase ice cream machines made by Carpigiani.
- ^ Casillas, Ofelia (April 6, 2006). "Handshake Put Ice Cream Machines in McDonald's". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
- ^ Greenberg, Andy (April 20, 2021). "They Hacked McDonald's Ice Cream Machines—and Started a Cold War". Wired. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
LegalDramawas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "2021 Annual Report" (PDF). McDonald's IR. February 24, 2022. pp. 3, 8, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 30, 43, 44, 48, 55. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
- ^ "Why You're Technically Not Able To Order A Milkshake At McDonald's". Daily Meal. September 9, 2023.
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