Meals were less than happy at McDonald’s Friday morning thanks to a system failure that forced stores around the world to close.
“We are aware of a technology outage, which impacted our restaurants; the issue is now being resolved,” a spokesperson for Chicago-based McDonald’s Corps said. “We thank customers for their patience and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
The fast-food giant also emphasized its issues were not related “to a cybersecurity event,” but did not provide further details.
Patrik Hjelte, the owner of several McDonald’s restaurants in central Sweden, noted that “all McDonald’s restaurants are connected to a global network,” which is likely why the issues were so widespread.
Word of the malfunctioning McDonald’s restaurants started cropping up online in the early hours of Friday morning. McDonald’s in Japan took to X to announce that “many stores nationwide are temporarily closed” due to a “system failure.”
“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and ask that you please wait for a while until the service is restored,” the post concluded.
In Hong Kong, the chain on Facebook blamed a “computer system failure” for knocking out orders online and through self-serve kiosks.
According to Downdetector.com, an outlet dedicated to providing real-time information about the status of various websites and services, the McDonald’s app and its online ordering system were also impacted by the tech issues. Users started reporting problems with the app around 2 a.m. ET, with complaints spiking just before 9 a.m.
Since then, several McDonald’s restaurants have said they’ve resolved their problems, and have begun operating normally again — including in Bangkok, Milan, London and Los Angeles.
A cashier working at a New York location told CNN that the store’s IT system went down around 1 a.m. and did not come back until hours later, around 5 a.m.
With News Wire Services
