On March 15, 2024, McDonald’s announced that they had resolved technical issues that had caused global outages, affecting customers in the UK and Australia. The fast food chain also reported problems in Japan, but operations were starting to resume. The issue, which began in the early hours of the morning, was not related to cyber-security.
McDonald’s thanked customers for their patience and apologized for any inconvenience caused by the outages. Despite the disruptions, the company assured that the problem had been resolved in the UK and Ireland.
Sarah McLean, a franchise owner in the Midlands, mentioned that all 21 of her branches had been impacted by the technical issues, resulting in about an hour and a half of disruption.
Reports of problems spread to countries like New Zealand, Austria, and Germany, although by the afternoon, many of the issues were being resolved. McDonald’s in Australia stated that most restaurants had reopened, thanking customers and staff for their patience.
The global outage drew attention on social media, with users expressing frustration over the inability to place orders. Some McDonald’s locations resorted to accepting only cash payments and manual calculations during the disruption.
McDonald’s, with approximately 40,000 restaurants worldwide, including 1,450 in the UK and Ireland and over 14,000 in the US, operates nearly 3,000 stores in Japan and around 1,000 in Australia.
If you have been affected by the McDonald’s technical issues, share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Don’t forget to include your contact information if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. Your feedback is valuable in understanding the impact of the outages on customers.