Donald Trump's shift at a Pennsylvania McDonald's caused a McFlurry of excitement online — with fans playfully naming him the leader destined to solve the country's most vexing fast-food frustration.
"He's gonna fix America's ice cream machine," went one typical post on X, alluding to the oft out-of-order frozen treat dispensers — which a recent $900 million lawsuit places at the center of a vast corporate conspiracy.
The chain has long been infamous for the frequency with which its soft-serve makers are on the fritz — so much so that in 2020, enterprising ice cream-lover Rashiq Zahid created McBroken, a website that tracks the status of McFlurry mixers in all 13,509 McDonald's in the United States.
At this writing, 14.72% of McDonald's ice cream machines across the country are broken. That includes 14.29% of all Dallas locations, 18.75% of Seattle's, and a chilling 32% of New York's.
Many disgruntled franchise owners place the blame squarely on McDonald's — and the company that makes most of the machines.
Until 2017, all McDonald's franchises were required to buy an ice cream maker made by the Illinois-based Taylor company; today, they have a few other options, but Taylor still controls most of the market.
While Taylor makes soft-serve machines for other chains, the $18,000 C602 model it sells to McDonald's is made specifically for the Golden Arches — and requires a nightly four-hour cleaning cycle.
If anything goes wrong with that cycle, operators of the machine receive a vague error message and are forced to try the cycle again. If they can't get the machine working, they must order an expensive repair from an official Taylor technician.
In 2018, food services conglomerate Middleby acquired Taylor. Its financial statements from that year reveal that 25% of its revenue comes from service calls and repairs — leading many disgruntled franchise owners to speculate that the company makes its machines breakdown-prone on purpose.
In 2020, two entrepreneurs formed the startup Kytch in an attempt to put maintenance back in the hands of franchises. Kytch sold a small computer that attached to Taylor ice cream machines and "translated" confusing error messages into detailed and user-friendly troubleshooting information — often allowing the operators to fix the machine themselves.
Franchises loved it, but soon, executives at Taylor intervened. In late 2020, they sent an email to franchises telling them not to use the device, claiming it could maim an employee by starting the machine remotely during cleaning. Kytch denied this.
Sales dropped, however, and Kytch soon closed up shop.
Kytch founders then served Taylor with a $900 million lawsuit, claiming the company employed corporate espionage to obtain a Kytch unit, then reversed-engineered it to make its own competing product — with an eye on driving Kytch out of business rather than solving McDonald's ice cream woes.
While Kytch and Taylor have apparently reached a settlement, the case remains tied up in a dispute between Kytch's former law firm and its current one.
Meanwhile, website iFixit did a teardown of one of the soft-serve units — and has teamed up with nonprofit Public Knowledge to file for an exemption with the U.S. Copyright Office allowing people to repair the Taylor machines — as well as other consumer and commercial devices — on their own.
The case also brought renewed attention to iFixit's advocacy for state "right to repair" laws, which secure the right of the consumer to repair products he or she has purchased without restriction.
As the media continues to cope and seethe over Trump's viral stint as a fast-food worker, it seems to have reopened discussion about our essential property rights — and the efforts of corporations to take them away.
Not bad for 15 minutes spent slinging fries.
If you have ever lived in Texas (or if you have ever met a Texan), you have heard of Whataburger.
With 740 locations in Texas alone, the iconic orange and white combo permeates the culture in a way that rivals no other fast food chain I’ve ever seen. Whataburger embodies “go big or go home.”
However, as the Californians have migrated to the Lone Star State, they brought In-N-Out with them. The Californian chain has cropped up in 43 locations, and it’s caused quite the divide. Their Christian values feel right at home in South, but challenging the state burger has ruffled some feathers.
The score must be settled. One burger must reign supreme. So we conducted an experiment.
Grace, a New Hampshire native, recently moved to Texas. Since her palate had not yet been exposed to either Whataburger or In-N-Out, she was the perfect test subject.
We devised a super-detailed, ultra-specific, rigidly-scientific process to test the merits of the warring burger joints.
The two burgers had to be as similar as possible. A classic Number One with cheese from Whataburger with fries (and its patented spicy ketchup on the side, of course). A Combo Number Two cheeseburger with fries from In-N-Out. Sticking to the basics was essential if the chains were to be judged by merit alone. The Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit will have to wait.
The orange and white packaging was discarded along with the Bible-verse-adorned bag. The burgers and fries were placed on plates, and then we were ready to bring in our subject.
Since we neglected to bring a blindfold for our blind tasting, Grace used the honor system and kept her eyes closed during the tasting. Unbeknownst to her, we served her the Whataburger burger and fries first. In-N-Out was next.
After we guided Grace’s hands to the Whataburger fries, the reception to the Texas classic was positive. However, she noted that “they need[ed] more salt.” According to Grace, most things need more salt. The burger was received with a bit less enthusiasm.
The In-N-Out fries were deemed soggier than the Whataburger fries. They also required more salt. In a fortunate turn of events for the Californians, the burger was immediately proclaimed superior to Whataburger’s.
Apparently, the ideal meal is fries from Whataburger and a cheeseburger from In-N-Out. But, as there can be only one winner, Grace announced that In-N-Out took the cake.
For all the Whataburger loyalists out there (like me), don’t despair. In-N-Out doesn’t have a Sweet and Spicy Bacon Burger or a Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit. There are just some things that the simplicity of the In-N-Out cheeseburger can’t beat.
But it’s safe to say that the Californian chain’s values are worth supporting. The Bible verses hidden on the packaging reflect IN-N-OUT owner and president Lynsi Snyder’s personal faith in Jesus. So maybe it’s worth switching it up once in a while to support a company that values faith in Christ.
If it counts for anything, Whataburger is still better (in my humble Texan opinion). But I digress.
If Trump can take small steps toward making our food real again, Americans will be able to have their French fries and eat them too.
Trump is so effective that the Democrats and the media can't handle it.
In predictable fashion, America’s morally and ethically bankrupt legacy media are melting down over former President Donald Trump’s visit to a McDonald’s franchise this past weekend. The media-wide freak-out started shortly after the former president, donning an apron and his signature red tie, worked alongside McDonald’s staffers in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, on Sunday. While cooking french fries, […]
Donald Trump served French fries at a Pennsylvania McDonald's on Sunday after Kamala Harris allegedly lied about her job there as a cook.
I can only imagine Harris as a colleague in the trenches of the drive-thru waxing eloquent about 'what could have been.'
High prices are just one logical result of California’s disastrous mandate to impose a $20 minimum wage on workers in fast-food restaurants.
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