McDonald’s was forced to close some restaurants after an IT outage disrupted systems in several of the company’s global markets. According to the Wall Street Journal, restaurants in Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan and Hong Kong experienced a technology outage Friday that impacted customers’ ability to order digitally.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), McDonald’s Japan stated Friday afternoon, “There is currently 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.”
About an hour later, the company provided an update, “Many stores across the country have temporarily suspended operations. We apologize for any inconvenience caused to our customers.”
McDonald’s Hong Kong stated, “Due to a computer system failure, the mobile ordering and self-ordering kiosks are not functioning. Please order directly at the customer counter.”
McDonald’s has stated that the outage was not related to a cybersecurity threat.
McDonald’s Australia (Macca’s) posted: “Earlier today, we experienced a technology outage which impacted all of our restaurants. This wasn’t related to a cybersecurity event and most restaurants have now reopened and are serving up all your faves. A huge thank you to our customers and hard-working crew for their patience, we’re sorry for the inconvenience.”
The outage comes as McDonald’s works to streamline its IT system internationally as part of an initiative announced last year. The objective of McDonald’s “Digitizing the Arches” strategy is to streamline its “fragmented” digital experience and move everything to a consistent global platform. The plan includes new customer, restaurant, and company-facing technology platforms.
“Together, they will enable us to execute in a world that is increasingly digital,” Brian Rice, global chief information officer, told analysts in December. “With a consistent approach, we will be able to deploy innovations with much greater speed and agility.”
McDonald’s digital sales currently generate more than 40% of the mix in its top six markets, or about $9 billion.
Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]
