The Secret Behind “Broken” Ice Cream Machines
Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard the classic line, “Our ice cream machine is down/broken,” at McDonald’s. Of course, you’ve heard it before, but is it true? Are all McDonald’s ice cream machines always on the fritz whenever you want to order a simple ice cream cone? Well, yes and no.

Their ice cream machines are actually down but not for the reason they give. Those machines require a bit of time to freeze the ice cream mixture, and trying to pour out ice cream before it’s frozen would result in a gloopy mess of lukewarm sweetness. It’s just a lot easier to say that the machine is broken than to explain the freezing process.