iFixit tears down a Taylor ice cream machine and finds that it overheats often, takes hours to restart, and these issues are impossible to fix because of locked down software and terrible error messages. No wonder, since Taylor makes 25% of its money charging $315 per 15 minutes for their exclusive repairs.
It's crazy for even a company like McDonald's to get fucked by this sort of thing.
You'd think they'd have enough institutional power to not have to deal with this, but I guess if front office decided on an icecream machine supplier then franchisees are the ones dealing with the extortionate repair pricing.
I dont get why McDonald's doesnt't design and commission a machine in-house, imagine if their grills and fryers were out of commission as often as the ice-cream machines. I think those machines are custom for McD's
I'm guessing it's because McDonald's is getting some sort of kickback from Taylor. They're definitely coming out on top over this, otherwise they would have gotten out of it a while ago. This is McDonald's we're talking about, everything in that restaurant is intentional.
It's depressing when things are purposely shitty for shareholder value.
Tim Hortons in canada used to have in-store bakers that cost about as much per baked good as the frozen pre-made shit they get now. But Tim Hortons corporate makes more by forcing franchisees to buy the frozen donuts, and the bakers were skilled labour they got to get rid of.
I can almost guarantee someone in house is getting kick backs from Taylor to not replace the machines with something else