A ringing cowbell is McDonald's way of letting kitchen staffers know an order has been placed requiring one of the fast-food chain’s new fresh beef patties, but the sound is flipping out its burger flippers.
Installing the cowbell-sounding buzzers behind the scenes is part of the company’s ongoing efforts to ensure fresh food and efficient service.
All McDonald's restaurants in the U.S. have switched from frozen patties to fresh beef and, to streamline things in the kitchen, the company decided it would be a good idea if a cowbell rang each time an order came through for one of the menu items now being made with fresh beef, Delish reported.
Employees aren’t impressed.
One staffer, who described the sound as "unbelievably grating and repetitive," called it a "headfirst plunge into KVS cowbell hell" on Reddit.
"It's driving virtually everyone bats," said the Reddit user posting under the name M68000, who’s obviously a techie. "I thought about doing everyone a favor and just unplugging the speakers but it's using an internal speaker on the thin client so can't just disconnect it."
Other Reddit users empathized.
"Our store is starting in three weeks, the cowbell drives us insane," posted Drakenstein99.
While McDonald staffers may be cringing behind the scenes each time the cowbell rings, critics out front are singing praises for McDonald's rollout of fresh-beef Quarter Pounders.
Kate Tyler of The Independent called the fresh beef swap "the best idea McDonald's has had in years" while Grace Wong of The Chicago Tribune noted the fresh beef patty "was indeed juicier than its frozen counterpart."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.