Ex-McDonald's employee explains real reason ice cream machines are 'broken'

Many McDonald's customers are often left disappointed when they are unable to get their hands on a McFlurry or milkshake due to the ice cream machines being out of order

An ex-McDonald's employee has let slip the real reason why the chain's ice cream machines always seem to be on the blink.

There's nothing quite like the thrill of dashing to your local Maccies for a taste of the latest McFlurry flavour, but all too often, that excitement is dashed when we're told the ice cream machines are out of order.

This frustrating scenario is becoming all too familiar, leaving hordes of customers with a McFlurry-shaped hole in their hearts. Disgruntled fast food lovers have taken to social media to vent their frustration at being denied their frozen treat fix.

But it turns out that the "broken" machines might not be as faulty as we're made to believe, according to some savvy restaurant insiders. One such insider, tweeting under the handle @will_doyle, spilled the beans with a tweet saying: "Btw, I used to work in McDonalds. The ice cream machine was never broke, it just takes 3 hours to clean so we used to say it was broke so we didn't have to serve you lot. Cheers x"

Echoing this sentiment, another former employee shared: "As an ex McDonald's employee, the ice cream machine was always working it just took too long to clean it so we used to tell everyone it was broken hahaha." A puzzled Twitter user responded to the revelation by asking: "I don't understand why you couldn't say it's being cleaned or maintained."

A former employee chimed in with: "Because people don't understand that you can't use it at all when its on a cleaning cycle... they just think you're wiping it down or something, its easier to say its broken."

McDonald's insists the machines go through a cleaning cycle ever 24 hours. The fast food giant responded: "Our shake and soft-serve ice cream machines undergo heat treatment cycles every 24 hours - they're disassembled, sanitized and cleaned every 14 days."