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McDonald's restaurant in Tokyo, photographed in January 2020.
London/Hong Kong
CNN
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McDonald's suffers system failure, shutters stores, online and app outages Orders can be placed from countries as far away as Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, and the UK.
“We are aware that a technology outage occurred that impacted our restaurants. The issue is currently being resolved,” McDonald's (MCD) said in a statement to CNN on Friday.
“We thank our customers for their patience and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Notably, this issue is not related to a cybersecurity event.”
McDonald's did not provide details about the cause or geographic extent of the outage, and CNN could not immediately confirm reports that U.S. restaurants were also affected.
McDonald's Japan announced in a post on X Friday that “many stores nationwide are temporarily suspending operations.”
Maria Abram works at a McDonald's restaurant in the UK. In London, a system failure occurred between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. local time (2 a.m. to 3 a.m. ET), with staff in London telling CNN they were taking orders directly and telling colleagues in the kitchen what to prepare. He said he had to tell them what to do.
A McDonald's Australia spokesperson told CNN that its restaurants across the country were affected by power outages.
Problems were also reported in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
McDonald's Hong Kong posted on Facebook: “Due to a computer system failure, our mobile ordering and self-ordering kiosks are not working. Please place your order directly at the restaurant counter.”
Taiwanese fast food chain McDelivery announced on its website, “Due to system maintenance, online ordering and telephone ordering services are temporarily suspended.''
Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS reported that McDonald's Taiwan announced on Friday that McDelivery transactions with some restaurants were temporarily unavailable due to an internet outage. According to TVBS, McDonald's assured customers that it was investigating the situation and making the necessary repairs.
Of the countries known to be affected, Japan has the largest number of McDonald's restaurants at around 3,000, followed by the UK with nearly 1,500 and Australia with just over 1,000.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
