Good News: The Prosperity Burger Is Back! Bad News: NO CURLY FRIES
The potato chip shortage due to strikes in the US is now affecting McDonald's Malaysia chains.
By Sadho Ram — 24 Jan 2015, 03:52 PM — Updated almost 10 years ago
It's that time of the year again... On 23 January 2015, McDonald's Malaysia launched the 'Prosperity Burger', as the fast food giant does annually ahead of the Chinese New Year season
Yes, it's true. We wailed at the sight of their Facebook cover image uploaded on 22 January, sans curly fries:
The change to regular French fries is due to the franchise being unable to get deliveries of curly fries from America
Basically, there's a shortage of potatoes that has been worsening across Asia since late 2014. McDonald's in Japan is now offering only small servings of french fries; even KFC Japan has stopped selling fries!
Industrial strikes by dockworkers on the west coast of the US mean that Japan has found it so difficult to secure a steady supply of chips due to disrupted or cancelled shipments that even market-leading McDonald’s had to start rationing its servings last month.
KFC in Japan will no longer be asking “Would you like fries with that?” as industrial disputes in the US have chopped back potato exports.
telegraph.co.uk“Due to the prolonged dockworkers’ disputes on the US West Coast, it has become difficult to secure stable supplies of potatoes,” the firm said in a statement yesterday. “The company will halt the sales of potatoes temporarily until a stable supply becomes available.”
therakyatpost.com
Back in December, to soften the blow of a total mass shortage of fries, Japan's McDonald's had to airlift around 1,000 tonnes of chips in an emergency shipment to fulfill customers' golden-arched expectations but with much smaller portions than normal
The shortage of normal French fries has yet to reach Malaysia. Both McDonald's and KFC here are on the lookout for more reliable suppliers to avoid a similar situation to Japan
When contacted, a McDonald’s Malaysia representative confirmed the franchise here is facing difficulties obtaining curly fries from the US. He confirmed the McDonald’s franchise here still has ample supplies of regular fries, and does not expect the Japan rationing to be implemented here yet.
“Japan was affected first because the volume of french fries consumed there is very high. It is not yet a problem here in Malaysia and we will advise our customers if the situation changes.”
He also said McDonald’s is looking around for alternate sources of the spud side dish, should the US port problem be prolonged.
Further, KFC Malaysia senior vice president Ling Mee Jiuan said in a statement: “The shortage of imported potatoes caused by labour disputes at a port on the US West Coast indeed impacts the timeliness of supplies to Asian markets. Though not affected yet, KFC Malaysia will continue to monitor the situation and take appropriate action, if any, as the situation progresses.”
therakyatpost.com
That's a relief. For now, be grateful and guard every piece of fry there is on your food tray...
