Important points
- On Friday, McDonald's restaurants in many countries suffered what the company called a “technical outage.”
- Locations in Japan, Australia, and other countries have reported issues with self-ordering kiosks.
- Some restaurants have closed, while others are accepting cash only and accepting orders with pen and paper.
McDonald's (MCD) suffered widespread “technical outages” on Friday in a number of countries, from Australia to the UK to Japan.
Some stores have reportedly closed due to the issue, while others are taking orders via pen and paper and have transitioned to all-cash operations until the technical issues are resolved.
“We are aware that we experienced a technology outage that impacted our restaurants.” A McDonald's spokesperson told Investopedia, “This issue is currently being resolved. We would like to thank our customers for their patience. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this matter.”
McDonald's also said the outage was not the result of a “cybersecurity event.”
According to numerous statements on social media and a report from Downdetector, there have been issues with McDonald's stores or the McDonald's app in Japan.,AustraliaHong Kong,Taiwan,England.
Australian customers and McDonald's employees said: new york times The power outage lasted about two hours, and some stores had to accept paper orders and only accept cash until the problem was resolved. X's Japan McDonald's account (formerly Twitter) said many stores across the country, McDonald's largest market outside of the US and China, had temporarily suspended operations due to power outages.
The issue does not appear to have affected investors, as McDonald's stock was little changed in early trading Friday.
Chief Financial Officer Ian Bowden said at an investor conference earlier this week that a number of factors will impact sales in the first months of 2024, with lower-income consumers turning to fast food and other restaurants. The company's stock price fell after the company said it was reducing spending.
