Families around the world get excited when they decide to run out for fast food. A trip to McDonald’s may not happen often, but when it does happen, we want to make sure that everything is right. Unfortunately, far too many of us know the disappointment of arriving at McDonald’s, only to find out that the ice cream machine is down for cleaning or maintenance.
According to The Verge, a new website has been created by a 24-year-old software engineer, Rashiq Zahid. Known as McBroken, the website helps fast food and ice cream lovers to know if an ice cream machine is down before they head off to visit the golden arches. A map is maintained by the website that displays which restaurants can offer ice cream in real-time, as well as those that aren’t offering it.
At this point, you may be curious about how the information is gathered. As a software engineer, Zahid put together a program that tries to order a McSundae at McDonald’s locations throughout the United States via the app. If the ice cream ends up in the shopping cart, a green dot is given to the location because they are ready to dispense ice cream. If the ice cream is not available, the restaurant is given a red dot.
Along with providing real-time information, McBroken also keeps track of the percentages of restaurants that do not have a working machine. It is just under 11%.
The Verge reported that Zahid got inspired to create the website after he could not get his beloved McSundae in Berlin, Germany during the summer. The program attempted to order a McSundae every 60 seconds, but the activity was declared as suspicious by McDonald’s. He has since adjusted the program to check every 30 minutes. Zahid even went so far as to check the system against locations he visited in person while in Berlin.
This guy really loves his ice cream!