McDonald’s shrinks portions amid ‘unstable’ shipping supply in East Asia
McDonald’s will have to shrink portions for its Japanese customers for the next month, as the fast-food chain has been hit by supply chain issues.
Shipping problems due to flood damage at a Vancouver port, as well as with other disruptions to potato supply from North America, have combined with global shipping hang-ups as a result of the pandemic.
From this weekend, customers in Japan will only be able to buy small-sized fries for the next few weeks, “to make sure we have plenty of inventory and our customers can enjoy McDonald’s fries without interruption,” McDonald’s said in a statement today.
It is the second time the fast-food chain has dialled down its portion sizes amid a squeezed supply of potatoes.
Some 2,900 Japanese branches were only able to sell small-sizes portions of fries for a week at the end of December.
It comes as McDonald’s Taiwan stores experience a shortage of hash browns, which are also imported from the US.
As a result of continued “unstable global shipping supply”, the fast-food chain said that some Taiwanese stores would have to suspend sales of the breakfast item.
Local stores hope to resume selling them by the end of the month.