McDonald's Global Operations Hit by Major System Outage, Affecting Multiple Countries

A widespread system failure has disrupted McDonald's operations globally, impacting stores and digital services in the US, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, and the UK.

Global System Outage Disrupts McDonald's Operations Across Several Countries

McDonald's has experienced a system failure, resulting in store closures and disruptions to online and app orders worldwide, including in the United States, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom.

“We are aware of a technology outage, which impacted our restaurants; the issue is now being resolved,” McDonald’s (MCD) said in a statement to CNN Friday. “Notably, the issue is not related to a cybersecurity event.”

A cashier at a McDonald's in New York told CNN that the store's IT system failed around 1 a.m. and returned around 5 a.m.

Meanwhile, McDonald's Japan announced in a post on X Friday that "many stores across the country have temporarily suspended operations."

Maria Avram, a McDonald's employee in London, told CNN that a system outage occurred between 6 a.m. And 7 a.m. At local times (2 a.m. and 3 a.m. ET), staff had to take orders in person and communicate with kitchen colleagues about what to cook.

A McDonald's Australia spokesperson told CNN that the outage affected all of the company's restaurants nationwide. Problems have also been reported in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

McDonald's Hong Kong posted on Facebook that mobile ordering and self-ordering kiosks are down due to computer system failures. Please order directly at the restaurant counter." Later, it announced that those services had been restored.

The fast food chain's McDelivery service in Taiwan announced on its website that "the system is under maintenance, and online and telephone ordering services are temporarily suspended."

According to Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS, McDonald's Taiwan announced on Friday that some of its restaurants and McDelivery were temporarily unable to conduct transactions due to internet disruptions. McDonald's has assured customers that it is investigating the situation and making the necessary repairs.

McDonald's Faces Global Disruption Amid System Outage, Compounding Earlier Challenges

McDonald's operates over 41,800 stores worldwide, with nearly 13,500 in the United States, its largest market.

Of the other countries known to be affected, Japan has the most McDonald's restaurants (nearly 3,000), followed by the United Kingdom (nearly 1,500) and Australia.

McDonald's already had a shaky start to the year, which was exacerbated by the outage. During its most recent earnings presentation last month, the company stated that the Middle East war was hurting its business and would most likely continue to do so. Like other American brands, it has faced boycotts in a number of regional markets.

McDonald's CEO Christopher Kempczinski stated that sales in other Muslim countries, such as Malaysia and Indonesia, were also down.

Photo: Boshoku/Unsplash