McDonald’s customers in Australia, Japan and Hong Kong reported having trouble ordering at the fast-food restaurants on Friday, as some operators cited technical problems with ordering systems.
In a post on X, McDonald’s Japan said its restaurants were having technical difficulties because of a system failure.” Later, in a separate post, it said that “many” stores across the country suspended operations because of the issue, without saying how many. Japan has about 2,900 McDonald’s restaurants, the third-most in the world after the United States and China.
McDonald’s Hong Kong said on Facebook that it was also experiencing a “computer system failure,” stating that “the mobile ordering and self-ordering kiosks are not functioning” and asking customers to order directly at the restaurant counters.
People in Australia posted pictures on social media showing signs on the doors of some McDonald’s outlets apologizing to customers for causing inconvenience. Australian news outlets reported that some restaurants had closed, while others had reverted to an analog approach, with some workers taking orders with pens and paper.
As of Friday evening, some restaurants in Australia appeared to have returned to full service.
At a restaurant in Richmond, Melbourne, customers ordered shakes and burgers, crowded around self-service ordering machines and lingered over shared French fries. Workers at the restaurant said the outage had lasted about two hours and that customers had paid in cash.
Jeremy Ruz, a customer in Newcastle, Australia, had been at the drive-through attempting to pick up dinner for his children when their plans were stymied by the systems failure, he said.
“People were coming out with a notepad and pen, saying they couldn’t take cards,” he said. “There was a queue a mile long.”