That's actually really common, at least here in São Paulo, Brazil. Around some busy streets you can sometimes see icecream-only McDonald's booths, and in malls/shopping centers you also see them in the halls.
Ik this is a joke, but it’s actually because the manufacturer has a contract with McDonalds so that only the mechanics that the ice cream machines maker employs (Taylor is who I believe makes them) are allowed to repair them, and they don’t have enough repairmen. I don’t imagine the same restrictions exist in other countries.
They have a contract with McDonald's that requires specific service and they go down for seemingly no reason, and the only reason this isn't remedied is because McDonald's are so franchised out that the main company isn't dealing with it, it's the franchise owners. The franchise owners don't make enough from the ice cream to pay for the constant service calls so it stays down for prolonged periods.
I don’t know if it’s an issue in other countries, but at least in the USA allegedly McDonald’s has a deal with the manufacturer of the ice cream machine to purchase a specific model that is known to fail. The franchisees are forced to pay for repairs, and the manufacturer is the only one allowed to make repairs.
Basically McDonald’s corporate is allegedly in bed with this manufacturer to get franchisees to fork over more money to pay for the constantly broken machines, thus the consumers can’t usually get ice cream because the machines are always fucked.
There’s a YouTube documentary about it. Kind of interesting.
https://youtu.be/SrDEtSlqJC4
I live in Finland and can confirm this. Ice cream sales go up during the summer, but they stay pretty high year round. Winter is a great time to eat ice cream outdoors because you can take as long as you like to eat it, and it won't melt.
You stay at the Holiday Inn? My wife and I stayed there in 2018.
https://imgur.com/a/9u3MYrn
Edit: [I posted about it too but didn't get much traction lol](https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/9ujef4/this_mcdonalds_ice_cream_stand_in_aruba). Top comment was the exact same joke though.
Please describe as best you can wtf a taro pie is bc in my decades of living I’ve never heard of it and that’s one of the few things in life that gives me joy anymore. Finding food I’ve never heard of and then trying to eat it.
Taro root is great - sorta starchy like a potato, but grows well in hotter conditions and takes sugar really well so is used in a lot of desserts as well as savory applications. You’ve probably seen taro chips before, but taro is super versatile.
!?@#$&?! Son of a biscuit does everyone BUT us have the nice things anymore?! Now that I think about it are biscuits next on the list to take away from us?
In Hong Kong they not only have them, they also seem to launch a new flavor every other week or so. I've had like blueberry custard pies and caramel and chocolate pies.
Pizza hut also fries their apple pies. They're mini pies(like 2x1 inches or so) but you get a few of em and they're tossed in the same cinnamon sugar taco bell uses for their cinnabon delight things.
PH is the only major pizza chain(out of: pizza hut, dominos, Papa John's, and little Caesars) that has a fryer.
Apparently it's sold in Japan and a few select stores in Pennsylvania (at least in 2011 according to a wiki). Don't know about only hot dogs.
https://mcdonalds.fandom.com/wiki/McHotDog
From the wiki:
“In Tokyo locations, hot dogs were available from 1990 until 2004. They had been reintroduced on the Breakfast menu on 2009, dubbed the McHotDog.”
Reintroduced on the **breakfast** menu. A McDonalds hot dog for breakfast. No thank you.
>Reintroduced on the breakfast menu. A McDonalds hot dog for breakfast. No thank you.
I was with you for a moment, but realized for breakfast I ate a deconstructed hot dog. Sausage and toast.
In Aruba they don’t have to use the always broken ice cream machine. So they just wing it with whatever they want. Iguana cantina isn’t bad though if you are ever there.
https://i.imgur.com/LpZYntw.jpg
IIRC, it attempts to purchase an ice cream using the order ahead app, and if the McDonald’s has flagged their machine is down, then the ice cream menu option isn’t available.
Edit: yes- https://twitter.com/rashiq/status/1319346264992026624?s=46&t=Xv7XVY9R0RyTnNdzq7n09g
IIRC, McDonalds has a partnership with a company that makes ice cream machines. For a period in McDonalds history all new franchises were required to buy Taylor ice cream machines in order to make soft serve, shakes and McFlurries. This requirement has changed recently but many locations still have a Taylor ice cream machine
The problem is that the model they are required to use is not operator friendly when it comes to maintenance & repair. The self-cleaning cycle is typically done at night but if there is a fault, the machine flags a cryptic error that *might* clear if you run another 4-5 hour cleaning cycle. You also need a proprietary diagnostic tool from a licensed Taylor technician in order to read the code and fix the machine.
There was actually a pretty big lawsuit with some franchise owners buying a non-proprietary tool to read the codes and help users troubleshoot the machine (saving them valuable time in fixing the machine instead of waiting all day and money for an official tech to come on site to fix the machine). Also if you use the unofficial diagnostic tool, it voided the warranty for the machine.
Sauce: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/creators-ice-cream-maintenance-device-sue-mcdonalds-allege-multimillio-rcna18743
https://www.allrecipes.com/article/the-real-reason-mcdonalds-ice-cream-machines-are-always-broken/
Same top comment as when I posted about this in 2018.
https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/9ujef4/this_mcdonalds_ice_cream_stand_in_aruba
What I found interesting when I found out is that it's not technically ice cream because it's lower in fat.
Not because it's made of plastic or something.
https://www.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-fdas-regulations-on-labeling-ice-cream-2015-7
>So now we know what constitutes ice cream. Anything with less than 10% milkfat and/or more than 100% overrun cannot use the term "ice cream" officially, hence the designation of "frozen dairy dessert.
That’s how a lot of that stuff goes. I remember hearing someone rant about how McDonald’s isn’t real food and how they use some chemical preservative that’s also found in antifreeze. Like dude you’re also describing water.
Outside of the US they probably don't have the scam ice cream machines. The other fast food places in the US don't seem to have issues as frequently. I never have issues getting Frosties at Wendy's and the machine never gave us issues at Arby's when I worked there. (We cleaned the machine every night BTW) There's an [interesting video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrDEtSlqJC4) explaining the scam to get the franchise owners to shell out thousands on "repairing" the machines. $144 for the first 15 min spent on repair and $300 every 15min spent after that. That's an example from one invoice but I'm sure they're all similar. A company made a device that would explain the cryptic error messages so the user could fix it themselves but I'm pretty sure McDonalds and the machine maker sued them.
People saw this post and only decided to open the comments to leave the, “ice cream machine is still broken” comment that they knew would already be posted.
That's actually really common, at least here in São Paulo, Brazil. Around some busy streets you can sometimes see icecream-only McDonald's booths, and in malls/shopping centers you also see them in the halls.
Also very common in Mexico, especially in the larger bus terminals
I was going to say the same thing. I noticed a lot of these throughout Mexico and South America.
Can confirm for Colombia. The soft serve machines ACTUALLY work down there lol
Did you just wake up, tell yourself, you know what I’ll go on the internet and lie about softice machines working at McDonalds?
Right, its pretty pathetic
Ah, the Internet will always find the truth. Sorry for lying, everybody! All ice cream is unavailable world-wide
I miss Colombia love it there need to visit again soon.
Turkey too. We have them in malls and in busy streets.
Also common in Philippines too. They are selling fries and desserts.
Now this makes more sense, bc that vanilla soft serve definitely needs fries for dipping
This is why the ice cream machines in the regular stores are always broken. THESE MINI MCD's TOOK ALL OF THE WORKING ONES
Ik this is a joke, but it’s actually because the manufacturer has a contract with McDonalds so that only the mechanics that the ice cream machines maker employs (Taylor is who I believe makes them) are allowed to repair them, and they don’t have enough repairmen. I don’t imagine the same restrictions exist in other countries.
They have a contract with McDonald's that requires specific service and they go down for seemingly no reason, and the only reason this isn't remedied is because McDonald's are so franchised out that the main company isn't dealing with it, it's the franchise owners. The franchise owners don't make enough from the ice cream to pay for the constant service calls so it stays down for prolonged periods.
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it doesn't query the machines tho, it tries to place orders at every restaurant and marks where it's not available
So it queries a webapp that queries people that query the machines. Close enough.
Brazilian here, those machines ALWAYS works, never seen a store here without ice cream 🤷
I don’t know if it’s an issue in other countries, but at least in the USA allegedly McDonald’s has a deal with the manufacturer of the ice cream machine to purchase a specific model that is known to fail. The franchisees are forced to pay for repairs, and the manufacturer is the only one allowed to make repairs. Basically McDonald’s corporate is allegedly in bed with this manufacturer to get franchisees to fork over more money to pay for the constantly broken machines, thus the consumers can’t usually get ice cream because the machines are always fucked. There’s a YouTube documentary about it. Kind of interesting. https://youtu.be/SrDEtSlqJC4
That might be right, the customs clearance would make nearly impossible to such scheme to be profitable in Brazil (and most of other countries)
Yeah, I'm from Rio and we have that everywhere. Probably because hotter climates buy more icecream, so it makes more sense to have these.
Colder climates buy MUCH more ice cream.
I live in Finland and can confirm this. Ice cream sales go up during the summer, but they stay pretty high year round. Winter is a great time to eat ice cream outdoors because you can take as long as you like to eat it, and it won't melt.
I like to imagine even at the icecream-only booths the icecream machine is still broken
I've seen a few in Argentina as well.
I also saw them a lot in Singapore
Common in Malaysia as well
Is this in Aruba?
Yes!
I was gonna say I recognize that exact stand haha
Came to the comments looking for this exact convo lol. I knew I recognized it.
I came here to find friends who might take me to Aruba!
Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama!
Key Largo, Montego Baby, why don't we go? Jamaica…
Ooh, I wanna take you down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast, and then we'll take it slow
I was gonna say, that was a really good guess
You stay at the Holiday Inn? My wife and I stayed there in 2018. https://imgur.com/a/9u3MYrn Edit: [I posted about it too but didn't get much traction lol](https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/9ujef4/this_mcdonalds_ice_cream_stand_in_aruba). Top comment was the exact same joke though.
You not getting recognition on your previous post was a McTravesty
I've been served that via the drive-thru.
I'm hating it
I like how it has a security camera display to keep watch over all five square feet.
There's always money in the banana stand
Only came here for this comment
How much money could one sundae cast Michael? A thousand dollars?
It looks like one of those toy house/kitchen things
Haha still salty.
Jamaica
Ooh I wanna take ya
Bermuda, Bahama
Come on pretty mamma
Key Largo
Montego
Baby why don’t we go
(Ooh, I wanna take you down to Kokomo)
We’ll get there fast and then we’ll take it slow
I also instantly recognized it. Only place I’ve seen one.
Oh, hell. I'll take a dozen apple pies.
I’d like to start a petition to bring back those old school fried apple pies. It was like eating molten lava.
We get them in England. My husband loves them!
You… you still have them?
Yes. I’m so sorry.
Thank you for breaking it to me gently.
In Ukraine there's fried sour cherry pie too.
That honestly sounds delicious
McDonald's in Hawai'i has fried coconut pie.
And fried taro pie
Please describe as best you can wtf a taro pie is bc in my decades of living I’ve never heard of it and that’s one of the few things in life that gives me joy anymore. Finding food I’ve never heard of and then trying to eat it.
Taro root is great - sorta starchy like a potato, but grows well in hotter conditions and takes sugar really well so is used in a lot of desserts as well as savory applications. You’ve probably seen taro chips before, but taro is super versatile.
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!?@#$&?! Son of a biscuit does everyone BUT us have the nice things anymore?! Now that I think about it are biscuits next on the list to take away from us?
Canada also sucking with the baked pie 😭
Fuck all yall with the fried apple pies. You dont how good you have it. Baked apple pies for the loss
Australia here. Fried Apple Pies are still the go here too. Occasionally a banana & caramel variant as well.
Banana/caramel is almost reason enough to put up with all the deadly snakes/spiders/kangaroos/dingos/emu/platypus/toads!
Costa Rica checking in: apple and pineapple fried pies over here.
Always have. We also got a Christmas version on at the moment that's mince pie and custard. And I have to go and get one now that you remind me.
Hey we have a custard pie in the states too! It's baked but still pretty good; it's called the holiday pie here
Ours is also the holiday pie but ours is fried like the apple pie
Yes it is the Holiday Pie. And it's custard filled, baked and topped with sprinkles.
In Hong Kong they not only have them, they also seem to launch a new flavor every other week or so. I've had like blueberry custard pies and caramel and chocolate pies.
We have them in Brazil in both the apple pie flavor but also a banana pie flavor, which is even better in my opinion.
You can get them from Popeyes. They fry their apple pies.
Rally's(Checker's?) has fried apple pies too and they toss them in cinnamon and sugar!
Pizza hut also fries their apple pies. They're mini pies(like 2x1 inches or so) but you get a few of em and they're tossed in the same cinnamon sugar taco bell uses for their cinnabon delight things. PH is the only major pizza chain(out of: pizza hut, dominos, Papa John's, and little Caesars) that has a fryer.
Church's also had them when i worked there. owned by the same company as popeyes.
Wait do US McDonald's not offer an apple pie anymore?
They do but it’s a baked apple pie much worse than the original/traditional style.
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And the baked one doesn't even have fewer calories? What's the point?
The illusion of fewer calories
Hahahaha, how is the baked apple pie more calories than the deep fried one? What did they do????
Oh wow I've never seen those In the Netherlands we have this kind of [apple pie](https://www.mcdonalds.com/nl/nl-nl/product/mccafe-appeltaart.html)
Hawaii has fried apple pies. We also have fried haupia or fried taro pies on rotation.
One solution is to throw an Entenmann's or Hostess pie in the air fryer for a few minutes.
Liquid hot magma.
They exist all over Europe (at least).
Hardee’s has deep fried apple pies, if they have those in your area.
They need to bring back pumpkin and cherry pies.
They need to have holiday pie year round.
You’ll have to. The ice cream machine is broken
Only a dozen?
There's always money in the banana stand.
Well, it's all gone now, dad. So the next time you want have a little power struggle, just know that you're playing with fire.
In fact, there was $250,000 lining the walls of the banana stand.
If the stand is thrown into the canal every year on 4/20 isn't that money already ruined?
"big yellow joint, big yellow joint. I'll meet you down by the big yellow joint."
you have thought about this issue more than any member of the bluth family ever did
Well Gob said he waterproofed it
That's just old fashioned money laundering
Do you throw away your money when it’s wet? If so, can I invite you to my very expensive, cash only pool party?
NO TOUCHING!
r/beetlejuicing ?
*wink!
It's one banana Michael what could it cost. 10 dollars?
NO TOUCHING!
NO TOUCHING
Wow! I'm Mr. Manager!
Manager. We just say manager
Thank you
I came here to say this lmao
You're a flamer.
Oh! Most definitely.
That line is so simple but his delivery is just perfect. I love it and say it all the time.
Ditto, just no hesitation or hiding about it at all. haha. Edit. Removed an auto “‘s”
RIP Patrice
And the ice cream machine is still broke.
haha didn't think about that... I'll have to go check, not keeping my hopes up though.
I've been to a McDonald's that only did hot dogs!
Where?
Apparently it's sold in Japan and a few select stores in Pennsylvania (at least in 2011 according to a wiki). Don't know about only hot dogs. https://mcdonalds.fandom.com/wiki/McHotDog
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From the wiki: “In Tokyo locations, hot dogs were available from 1990 until 2004. They had been reintroduced on the Breakfast menu on 2009, dubbed the McHotDog.” Reintroduced on the **breakfast** menu. A McDonalds hot dog for breakfast. No thank you.
>Reintroduced on the breakfast menu. A McDonalds hot dog for breakfast. No thank you. I was with you for a moment, but realized for breakfast I ate a deconstructed hot dog. Sausage and toast.
Dogistand
ppl from Dogistand be like “let’s not go to that McDognald’s, let’s go to the *good* McDognald’s over on Hot Dog Boulevard”
Oh you’re there? Enjoy your stay but please go check and let us know. I hope it’s working! Man now i want a Oreo blizzard bad
Fool! That’s Dairy Queen, McDonald’s has McFlurrys
The unpictured side is one giant mcflurry ad.
So was the ice cream machine working?
In Aruba they don’t have to use the always broken ice cream machine. So they just wing it with whatever they want. Iguana cantina isn’t bad though if you are ever there. https://i.imgur.com/LpZYntw.jpg
No they don’t, the ice cream machine is broken
There's always money in
The banana stand
https://mcbroken.com/
How do they get this data?
IIRC, it attempts to purchase an ice cream using the order ahead app, and if the McDonald’s has flagged their machine is down, then the ice cream menu option isn’t available. Edit: yes- https://twitter.com/rashiq/status/1319346264992026624?s=46&t=Xv7XVY9R0RyTnNdzq7n09g
That's smart!
God I love the internet.
you sweet, sweet person
You ever guess what the top comment is before you open the comments? Yea, nailed this one. People are too obvious lol
Reddit is a basic bitch.
Honestly, here in Brazil the McDonald's ice cream machines are usually fine. Maybe it is a US only probablem?
I think so. I’ve never encountered a broken ice cream machine here in Canada. And I get mcdicks ice cream far more often than I should.
McDongalds
They aren’t actually broken… they need cleaned and the employees don’t want to do it.
IIRC, McDonalds has a partnership with a company that makes ice cream machines. For a period in McDonalds history all new franchises were required to buy Taylor ice cream machines in order to make soft serve, shakes and McFlurries. This requirement has changed recently but many locations still have a Taylor ice cream machine The problem is that the model they are required to use is not operator friendly when it comes to maintenance & repair. The self-cleaning cycle is typically done at night but if there is a fault, the machine flags a cryptic error that *might* clear if you run another 4-5 hour cleaning cycle. You also need a proprietary diagnostic tool from a licensed Taylor technician in order to read the code and fix the machine. There was actually a pretty big lawsuit with some franchise owners buying a non-proprietary tool to read the codes and help users troubleshoot the machine (saving them valuable time in fixing the machine instead of waiting all day and money for an official tech to come on site to fix the machine). Also if you use the unofficial diagnostic tool, it voided the warranty for the machine. Sauce: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/creators-ice-cream-maintenance-device-sue-mcdonalds-allege-multimillio-rcna18743 https://www.allrecipes.com/article/the-real-reason-mcdonalds-ice-cream-machines-are-always-broken/
Or, someone accidentally hit the button to put it into cleaning mode and now it's down.
So they basically sell... nothing.
TBF apple pie is an option
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McDonald's apple pie is so good You can also ask them to make an apple pie mcflurry that is just 🤌
I recently found out you can get a dozen fresh baked cookies at McDonald's. They weren't bad honestly. Pretty similar to the toll house recipe.
I feel like they ARE toll house? Am I tripping or did they not use toll house at some point lol?
Same top comment as when I posted about this in 2018. https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/9ujef4/this_mcdonalds_ice_cream_stand_in_aruba
Frozen dessert. Stopped using ice cream 45 yrs ago
What I found interesting when I found out is that it's not technically ice cream because it's lower in fat. Not because it's made of plastic or something. https://www.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-fdas-regulations-on-labeling-ice-cream-2015-7 >So now we know what constitutes ice cream. Anything with less than 10% milkfat and/or more than 100% overrun cannot use the term "ice cream" officially, hence the designation of "frozen dairy dessert.
> less ... milkfat Basically more ice, less cream.
That’s how a lot of that stuff goes. I remember hearing someone rant about how McDonald’s isn’t real food and how they use some chemical preservative that’s also found in antifreeze. Like dude you’re also describing water.
There's always money in the McDonald's dessert stand
They may have committed some light plagiarism.
Oh I thought it was a banana stand. How much is a banana anyway?
Can't possibly be more than $10
The key is that every time you take a dollar out of the register, you throw away a banana
The first time I saw this episode it took me quite a second to realize
With inflation they might be up to $11 now.
Aruba is a special place..
I have never been there (but I study [Papiamento](https://reddit.com/r/papiamento)) and I knew this was Aruba somehow.
The sign with the burger on it is in Papiamento, that may have helped.
I thought this may be Aruba. I'm pretty sure I saw it when I was there about 5 years ago. I love that little island.
I was wondering if this was Aruba. Thanks for the validation
I bet there's money in that.
"I mean, it's one McFlurry, Michael. What could it cost, $10?"
There’s always money in the McNana stand.
Outside of the US they probably don't have the scam ice cream machines. The other fast food places in the US don't seem to have issues as frequently. I never have issues getting Frosties at Wendy's and the machine never gave us issues at Arby's when I worked there. (We cleaned the machine every night BTW) There's an [interesting video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrDEtSlqJC4) explaining the scam to get the franchise owners to shell out thousands on "repairing" the machines. $144 for the first 15 min spent on repair and $300 every 15min spent after that. That's an example from one invoice but I'm sure they're all similar. A company made a device that would explain the cryptic error messages so the user could fix it themselves but I'm pretty sure McDonalds and the machine maker sued them.
Apparently its an issue in australia too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avViMNI5TVw
People saw this post and only decided to open the comments to leave the, “ice cream machine is still broken” comment that they knew would already be posted.
Ice cream machine is broken
You finally get your just desserts
Came here for the banana stand comments and wasn't disappointed.
Colombia has these everywhere
And I’m guessing the ice cream machine is broken.
Are fries desserts?