There are only a few things promised in this life: death, taxes, and McDonald’s being unable to make your McFlurry because their ice cream machine is “out of service.” Well, a startup company that tried to fix that age-old issue is now suing the fast-food chain for $900 million.
According to The Hill, the founders of a small business called Kytch specializing in remote controls, maintenance, and other tools for ice cream machines are suing McDonald’s for allegedly sending inflammatory emails to other companies saying that their devices were a safety threat and did not work.
Court documents reveal that Kytch cofounders Melissa Nelson and Jeremy O’Sullivan are seeking $900 million in damages from McDonald’s for defamation and false advertising and interference in its contracts with customers.
“Kytch brings this action to set the record straight, to vindicate the company’s rights under civil law, to curb McDonald’s anti-competitive conduct, to recover compensatory and punitive damages, to protect the consuming public from false and misleading advertisements, and to finally fix McDonald’s broken soft-serve machines,” the court filings read.
A spokesperson for the fast-food chain said in a statement to Insider that Kytch’s claims are “meritless” and that they will deal with the startup in court.
“McDonald’s owes it to our customers, crew and franchisees to maintain our rigorous safety standards and work with fully vetted suppliers in that pursuit,” they said. “Kytch’s claims are meritless, and we’ll respond to the complaint accordingly.”
The massive company also cites that the safety certificates that Kytch had did not meet the standards they require for equipment. The cofounders, however, are claiming that McDonald’s singlehandedly destroyed their business because of the lies they were spreading about their product.
“McDonald’s worked closely with its soft-serve machine manufacturer, Taylor Company, to spread false information about our company, to drive us out of the marketplace, and to line their own pockets,” they claimed.
Unfortunately, even after this case is settled, we can assume that ice cream machines will remain broken.
