Restaurants suffer global tech issue

McDonald’s stores across parts of the world were either closed or had suspended online orders Friday after what the company said was a technology outage.

The unspecified issue affected the fast food chain’s stores in Japan and Australia, while social media users also reported disruption in China, Britain and elsewhere across Asia and Europe.

“We are aware of a technology outage, which impacted our restaurants; the issue is now being resolved. We thank customers for their patience and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused,” a spokesperson for the McDonald’s Corporation said.

The McDonald’s statement added: “Notably, the issue is not related to a cybersecurity event,” responding to speculation that the company might have been the target of an online attack.

McDonald’s Japan said in an update on X that “Many stores across the country have temporarily suspended operations.” It added: “We apologize for any inconvenience caused to our customers.”

In an earlier post Friday morning, McDonald’s Japan said: “There is currently a system failure.” Japan has almost 3,000 McDonald’s stores, behind only China and the United States.

McDonald’s Australia also said its stores had been hit by a nationwide system outage.

The South China Morning Post reported that McDonald’s said at 2.30 p.m. local time on its Chinese-language Facebook page: “Due to a computer system failure, the mobile ordering and self-ordering kiosks are not functioning. Please order directly at the restaurant counter. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.”

In a subsequent update at 4 p.m. local time the problem was fixed, the company said, according to the SCMP.

NBC News has contacted McDonald’s for further comment.