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McDonald's Apologises for Global Tech Outage, Ensures Swift Resolution Amid Frustration
McDonald's apologises for a global system outage caused by a third-party technology provider. The outage was not a cybersecurity issue and lasted for approximately 12 hours. The company is working urgently to resolve the issue and prioritise the reliability of its technology.
McDonald's, the renowned fast-food chain, issued an apology on Friday for a global technology outage that resulted in the temporary closure of several of its restaurants. The company attributed the outage to a third-party technology provider and clarified that it was not a cybersecurity issue. The incident occurred around 12 a.m. CDT during a configuration change and was nearly resolved after approximately 12 hours, according to the Chicago-based company.
Brian Rice, McDonald's global chief information officer, expressed his understanding of the frustration caused by such outages and emphasised the company's commitment to the reliability and stability of its technology. In a statement, Rice said, "What happened today has been an exception to the norm, and we are working with absolute urgency to resolve it. Thank you for your patience, and we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this has caused."
McDonald's also clarified that the system outage was unrelated to its recent partnership with Google Cloud as a technology provider. The collaboration, announced in December, aims to enhance efficiency in tasks such as ordering at kiosks and optimising staffing by migrating restaurant computations to the cloud.
Reports of the outage surfaced across various regions, including Japan and Hong Kong. McDonald's Japan posted on X (formerly Twitter) that operations were temporarily affected at many of its stores nationwide due to a system failure. Similarly, the chain's Hong Kong branch acknowledged on Facebook that a computer system failure had disrupted online orders and self-serve kiosks. Downdetector, an outage tracker, also recorded a surge in issues with the McDonald's app during the same period.
Fortunately, some McDonald's restaurants were able to resume normal operations after the outage. Customers in Bangkok, Milan, and London reported being able to order and receive their food without any issues. In Bangkok, although the system was down for about an hour, cash payments were still accepted while online and credit card payments were temporarily unavailable. In Milan, a technician guided the staff through the process of restoring the system after a couple of hours of downtime. McDonald's in Denmark confirmed that the technology failure had been resolved, and their restaurants were open for business.
Customers from Australia to the U.K. took to social media to express their frustrations with ordering difficulties during the outage. One Australian customer even shared a photo on X, showing an unavailable kiosk.
McDonald's is actively working to rectify the situation and ensure the smooth functioning of its technology systems. The company remains committed to providing a reliable and efficient experience for its customers worldwide.
McDonald's apologises for a global system outage caused by a third-party technology provider.
The outage was not a cybersecurity issue and lasted for approximately 12 hours.
The company is working urgently to resolve the issue and prioritise the reliability of its technology.
Source: AP NEWS