The reopening of former McDonald’s MCD.N restaurants in Russia last month, under new branding and management, generated much excitement. But those who run its restaurants have a problem: a shortage of French fries.
McDonald’s left Russia after the West’s reaction to the war in Ukraine, which included a barrage of economic sanctions, and sold all the restaurants it owned to a local dealer in May.
The new owner is facing problems sourcing potatoes, blaming them on a poor harvest in Russia and difficulty importing due to supply chain disruptions.
Under the new name of Vkusno & tochka, or “Tasty and that’s it,” the restaurants began reopening on June 12, selling nearly 120,000 burgers that day.
But after customers began posting photos of menus without fries last week, Vkusno & Tochka said it would keep the item off the menus of some of the newly opened restaurants until the fall.
He said that while for years he had focused on sourcing ingredients locally, it was now “impossible to import from markets that could become temporary suppliers of potatoes… Potatoes will return to the chain’s menu in its totality early in the next crop year, the fall of 2022,” he said.
The shortage underscores the challenges facing Russian businesses, as sanctions over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine and supply chain disruptions complicate importing goods.
Despite Vkusno & tochka’s problems, the Russian Ministry of Agriculture stated last week that the potato harvest would be larger than last year’s and that the market was “fully supplied with potatoes, including processed ones.”
