New Rule Means More Ice Cream at Southern Utah McDonald’s

Here's what happened in August of this year........It’s 6 PM on a Friday, you’re driving through St. George, and all you want is a cool, creamy vanilla cone from McDonald's to take the edge off that lingering 95-degree desert heat. You pull up, ready to order, and… “Sorry, our ice cream machine is down.” Or you're cruisin' through Cedar and you really want that McFlurry but the machine is STILL not fixed.

Classic! But Southern Utah fans, rejoice! Thanks to a new rule change, those dreaded words might just become a thing of the past. The U.S. Copyright Office has issued an exemption allowing third-party repair folks to fix these pesky ice cream machines at McDonald's. Before, only technicians certified by Taylor (the machine manufacturer) were allowed to handle the repairs, and they were notoriously tough to book. So, if a McDonald's soft-serve machine went down, it stayed down until a Taylor expert could make it out – and that could mean a very long wait.

But now, this new exemption is set to make vanilla cones and McFlurries way more available. Anyone with the right training can now fix the machines without needing Taylor’s green light, reducing downtime across the board. And yes, even the government agrees: ice cream is serious business! The FTC and DOJ got involved, noting that repair times were not only long but costly — Taylor repair techs were known to charge over $300 every 15 minutes! Oh my word how was this ever ok???

For restaurants like the ones owned by the Parrish brothers (who own almost every McDonald's in Southern Utah), this change is especially good news. Every day a machine is down, they could lose about $625 in soft-serve sales. So, get ready to enjoy your favorite McDonald's treats a little more reliably, thanks to this new rule that kicked in on October 28, 2024.

And hey, next time you hit a McDonald's in Southern Utah, the staff should have no excuse to not hand you that cone. ♥