The two fast food chains are experiencing shortages of fresh chicken and French fries.
If you want to order at a KFC in Australia or McDonald’s in Japan these days, you might be disappointed.
The two fast food chains are experiencing shortages of fresh chicken and French fries, respectively, forcing them to cut back on some of the usual items on the menu this month.
Both companies attribute the setbacks to cuts in supply chains, which are affecting other restaurants around the world.
In Australia, KFC said it temporarily recalled some items from the menu at certain locations around the country as it was having trouble finding a supply of its most important ingredient – fresh chicken. It said its suppliers were being affected by the COVID-19-related staff shortage.
“We are working with our multiple vendors to mitigate the impact and provide support, but we expect some disruptions to continue in the coming weeks,” a KFC spokesperson told CNN Business.
KFC did not specify which menu items were affected or which of its suppliers were experiencing problems.
But on Tuesday, Australian poultry processing company Ingham’s, which has a partnership with the fast food giant, said it was “experiencing significantly lower levels of staff availability, which is impacting production volumes. and operational efficiency ”.
‘The rapid spread of the omicron variant (…) and the resulting staff shortages are now also having a significant impact on the Australian supply chain, operations, logistics and sales performance of Ingham’s, and some of its suppliers and customers, “said the company in a presentation on the stock exchange.
Ingham’s declined to comment further on Wednesday, saying it would not discuss ties with individual clients.
Meanwhile, in Japan, McDonald’s has been forced to stop selling medium and large portions of potato chips.
The company had already briefly suspended those options last month due to delays in shipments of potatoes to the country. Last Friday, it extended the suspension and said it would only sell small portions of potato chips at regarding 2,900 outlets across the country throughout January.
According to McDonald’s, the shortage will continue this month as it continues to face the impact of a major flood near the port of Vancouver in Canada, which handles much of the company’s potato imports from North America.
He added that heavy snowfall and bad weather also affected transportation services.
With the sale of larger fries temporarily suspended, all customers who purchase a set menu that normally comes with those portions will receive a 50 yen (US $ 0.43) discount.
McDonald’s said in its statement that it was working on “organizing new distribution channels” to ensure a stable supply of potatoes in the future.
“We will continue to cooperate with importers and suppliers … so that regular McDonald’s potato chip sales can resume as soon as possible,” he added.
The news adds to a series of headaches for fast food producers, who have been grappling with global supply chain disruptions for months.
