Revealed: Why McDonald’s Closed Some Locations Early This Morning

Did you have trouble getting food from McDonald's on your way to work this morning? You likely weren't the only one who had to start their Friday morning without an Egg McMuffin.

McDonald's Suffers Outage

A little after midnight (Central), this morning, McDonald's suffered a massive "technology system outage." The company said the outage was "global" in nature, affecting several locations around the world.

The New York Times reported McDonald's locations as far away as Japan were forced to close while Australia restaurants switched to using pen and paper to take customers' orders.

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In communication to its employees and franchisees, McDonald's said the outage was "quickly identified and corrected." Several restaurants were brought back online with others following soon after.

"I understand that this impacts you, your restaurant teams and our customers," McDonald's EVP and Global Chief Information Officer Brian Rice said in a messaged directed toward employees and local franchises. "What happened today has been an exception to the norm, and we are working with absolute urgency to resolve it."

Should McDonald's Customers Worry About Cybersecurity Issues?

News of a widespread system outage is certainly concerning not only for employees, but also customers who may fear potential cybersecurity issues.

McDonald's corporate office was quick to say there is no concern of cybersecurity threats connected to the outage.

"Notably, this issue was not directly caused by a cybersecurity event; rather, it was caused by a third-party provider during a configuration change," the company shared on its website.