Various reports have indicated that people love French fries and chips around the world and it has caused an increase in global potato shortage. There are a number of popular items, including marmite and cream cheese, that have experienced scarcities following supply chain disruptions. Point to be noted that the coronavirus pandemic and extreme weather badly affected the supply chain. However, potatoes have now become unevenly available in some countries and fast-food chains because of a conjunction of various factors. Last month, pandemic-related supply chain issues and floods in the Port of Vancouver delayed potato shipments, so McDonald’s locations in Japan stopped offering large and medium-size french fry orders.
After a week, South African leading potato chips makers issued a warning that potatoes were in disturbingly short supply after a bad frost and excessive rains led to low local yields, on top of global sourcing shortages. Kentucky Fried Chicken locations in Kenya struck french fries, known locally as chips, from menus, as virus-related shipping delays held up containers full of potatoes for more than a month. On 3rd January, KFC Kenya tweeted, “You love our chips a little too much, and we’ve run out, Sorry! Meanwhile, the food chain offered customers the chance to swap in other menu items such as chicken, buns, soda, coleslaw, and maize-based ugali – in place of fries in combo meals. Other Kenyan fast-food restaurants were able to offer the goods.
On 4th January, Kenya’s Burger King wrote, “We have enough fries for everyone”. The shortage attracted some anger among Kenyans over KFC’s reliance on imported instead of local potatoes, which are in their harvest season. The chief executive of KFC East Africa, Jacques Theunissen said it could not easily switch to Kenyan potatoes because of global quality standards. All suppliers need to go through the global quality assurance approval process, and we cannot bypass that even if we run out to ensure that our food is safe for consumption by our customers. Some called for a KFC boycott on social media and asked why the franchise had not sought approval for local suppliers from the start.