It's officially Shamrock Shake season at McDonald's. The festive green-colored milkshakes returned to the Golden Arches' menu on Monday, more than a month ahead of St. Patrick's Day.
Made with vanilla soft serve, mint syrup and whipped cream, Shamrock Shakes were first introduced in 1970 and have gained a cult following since, with Google Trends showing that searches for the beloved beverage reached new highs in each of the past three years.
The problem is that McDonald's ice cream machines are notorious for breaking down. The machines are so unreliable that a website was created to track broken units and service downtime at McDonald's restaurants across the country. According to McBroken, just over 13% of McDonald's restaurants currently have broken ice cream machines. New York City has the highest percentage of broken machines followed by Washington D.C. and San Diego, per McBroken.
Percentage of restaurants with broken ice cream machines in:
• New York -- 34.69%
• Washington D.C. -- 23.4%
• San Diego -- 12.05%
• Los Angeles -- 15.71%
• Philadelphia -- 15%
• Houston -- 13.97%
• Phoenix -- 13.33%
• Dallas -- 12.7%
• Boston -- 9.09%
• San Antonio -- 7.69%
• San Jose -- 7.14%
• San Francisco -- 6.67%
• Seattle -- 6.25%
• Chicago -- 5.98%
So, why are the machines seemingly always broken?
McDonald's soft serve machines are made by the Taylor Company, based in Rockton, Illinois, and Taylor mechanics are the only ones who know how to fix the machines when they break, according to a report by Wired.
The machine's software is also protected under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which prohibits anyone from bypassing a digital lock to access copyrighted material, NPR reported. The lock prevents a franchise owner or private technician -- anyone other than the manufacturer -- from fixing the equipment because they cannot access repair materials such as parts, tools and diagnostic codes.
Since the machines must be repaired by Taylor -- which reportedly makes 25% of its profits from service calls and charges $350 per 15 minutes of service, per Ars Technica -- getting a broken one back up and running could take days or even weeks.
Representatives for McDonald's and Taylor have declined to comment on the issue. The fast-food giant has coyly acknowledged the issue, joking on X back in August 2020: "we have a joke about our soft serve machine but we're worried it won't work."