Website tracks every broken McDonald’s ice cream machine in America

(Gray News) – A twentysomething software engineer in Germany is building plenty of fast food street cred with his website that tracks every McDonald’s soft service machine in the United States.

Rashiq Zahid reverse-engineered the computer code in the McDonald’s app to pull off the feat.

“I’m currently placing an order worth $18,752 every minute at every McDonald’s in the US to figure out which locations have a broken ice cream machine,” Zahid tweeted.

Anyone who’s ever tried to order a cone or sundae at a Micky D’s may know the disappointment of hearing the machine is out of order.

“To clarify how this works: McDonald’s keeps track which locations have a broken machine, I’m merely querying for those - no order gets executed, no ice cream is actually wasted,” Zahid said in another tweet.

to clarify how this works: mcdonald's keeps track which locations have a broken machine, I'm merely querying for those - no order gets executed, no ice cream is actually wasted 🍦
— rashiq (@rashiq) October 22, 2020

Zahid dishes up the information on his website: McBroken.com, which features a map of the United States.

The display has green dots for the stores where a soft serve is currently working and red dots where they’re not.

McDonald’s seems to be OK with the technical invasion of privacy.

“Only a true @McDonalds fan would go to these lengths to help customers get our delicious ice cream! So, thanks!” David Tovar, the fast food giant’s vice president of U.S. communications, said on Twitter.

“We know we have some opportunities to consistently satisfy even more customers with sweet treats and we will.”

Only a true @McDonalds fan would go to these lengths to help customers get our delicious ice cream! So, thanks! We know we have some opportunities to consistently satisfy even more customers with sweet treats and we will.
— David Tovar (@dwtovar) October 23, 2020