McDonald’s faces widespread IT outage, affecting operations globally

McDonald’s encounters significant IT system failure, leading to halted operations and suspended online ordering in countries across Asia, Australia, and Europe

One of the biggest global fast-food chains, McDonald’s, has been experiencing a major IT system failure since Friday.

This technological glitch has affected its operations across Asia, Australia, and Europe, forcing many stores to halt operations and suspend online ordering.

Reports of problems with the McDonald’s app started coming in at about 5:30 a.m. (GMT) on Friday, according to the website Downdetector. After that, the company received many complaints as customers were upset because they couldn’t get their McDonald’s breakfast.

In Japan, the fast-food giant publicly acknowledged the crisis on social media platform X. “There is currently a system failure,” McDonald’s Japan stated, adding that they were “temporarily suspending operation at many outlets.”

A similar situation unfolded in China, causing a significant buzz on the social media platform Weibo, although the company later announced the full restoration of its online ordering system.

Hong Kong outlets also experienced disruptions, as McDonald’s Hong Kong reported on Facebook, “Due to a computer system failure, the mobile ordering and self-ordering kiosks are not functioning.” The company later updated that its systems were “gradually returning to normal.”

The technical issues extended to Australia, where customers faced difficulties in placing orders. A McDonald’s Australia spokesperson told CNN, “We are aware of a technology outage currently impacting our restaurants nationwide and are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible.”

The United Kingdom saw a brief disruption in service. Maria Avram, a London McDonald’s employee, informed CNN about the morning outage, stating, “There was a system outage between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. local time,” during which staff had to take orders and communicate with kitchen colleagues manually.

A spokesperson from the U.K. branch acknowledged awareness of the problem and the ongoing efforts to address it.

Source: Newsroom