‘System failure’ prompts closure of select restaurants for hours, sparking customer complaints on social media.
McDonald’s, the fast food giant, faced system failures across multiple countries, resulting in temporary closures of several restaurants for hours. The chain, headquartered in the United States, attributed the disruptions to a “technology outage” affecting operations globally, including in Australia, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Despite the widespread impact, the company ruled out cybersecurity issues as a potential cause of the problem.
McDonald’s outlets in Japan communicated via X that “operations are temporarily out at many of our stores nationwide,” attributing the incident to a “system failure.”
Patrik Hjelte, owner of multiple McDonald’s restaurants in central Sweden, informed local newspaper Nya Wermlands Tidningen that all of the chain’s “restaurants are connected to a global network and that is what’s messed up.”
The exact number of affected stores globally was not immediately clear.
Downdetector, an outage tracking website, noted a surge in issues with the McDonald’s app, while media reports highlighted customer complaints about ordering problems spanning from Australia to the UK.
With over 40,000 restaurants worldwide, including more than 14,000 in the US, McDonald’s is a major player in the fast-food industry.
In February, the company reported its first missed quarterly sales target in nearly four years, citing factors such as Israel’s conflict in Gaza.
The decline occurred following calls for a boycott of McDonald’s by customers in Muslim-majority countries. This response was triggered by the chain’s Israeli franchisee donating thousands of free meals to the Israeli military.
Additionally, earlier this month, social media platforms owned by Meta, including Facebook and Instagram, encountered technical disruptions. These issues affected hundreds of thousands of users globally, lasting for more than two hours.
Image source: https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/mcdonalds-debut-new-spinoff-restaurant-concept-called-cosmcs-next-year
