McDonald's forced to ration customers' fries as supply shortage hits Japan

Fast-food chain is hoping to fly in fresh supplies

Customers will get a 50 yen (39c) discount on set items to reflect the smaller portion.

McDonald’s Holdings Japan will only offer french fries in small sizes from today after flooding at a Vancouver port and the coronavirus pandemic have cut off supplies of one of its key offerings.

While the fast-food chain is trying to address the problem with alternative flights and is cooperating with suppliers and importers, it will only offer small-size french fries from Friday through to December 30. Elimination of the medium and large-size offerings was necessary “to ensure that as many customers as possible will have continued access to our french fries.” McDonald’s hopes that supply issues that will affect its 2,900 outlets in Japan will be resolved by New Year’s eve and said the move won’t affect its hash brown offerings. Customers will get a 50 yen (39c) discount on set items to reflect the smaller portion.

Set items at McDonald’s come with a medium-size portion of french fries and customers have the option of increasing or decreasing the size. At 74 grams and 225 calories a serving, the small size is about half the portion of the medium size offering.

Bloomberg