Five or six major potato chip producers are reluctant to supply Russia, a Reuters report said. CEO of the rebranded Russian McDonalds, Oleg Paroev, said this was due to “known facts”. The revamped restaurants have removed French fries from the menu and expect shortages to last through the fall.
French fry producers are not taking orders from Russia, Reuters reported, after a poor local harvest led to a shortage for Russia’s rebranded McDonalds, forcing it to remove fries from its menu.
Five or six major potato producers are not willing to supply Russia “due to known facts,” McDonald’s Russia’s former vice president of transformation Oleg Paroev told RBC TV on Thursday.
Russia is having difficulty increasing local production and the potato harvest in Russia is less than needed, Paroev told Russian media outlet RBC TV, according to the report.
Pareov, now CEO of the Russian chains McDonald’s, Vkusno & tochka, said that the headquarters of the major French fry producers are located in “unfriendly” countries and will not do business with Russia.
Vkusno & tochka, which translates to “Delicious and Finished,” claimed it would maintain high standards and that customers would not notice a difference, the report said.
The company removed French fries from its menu last week and said it expects potato shortages until the fall, citing a poor potato harvest in Russia. Days later, the fast food chain stopped allowing customers to film and take photos in one of the restaurants without a permit.
The rules came after Russian customers posted photos of moldy burgers and expired sauce on Twitter and Telegram.
McDonald’s restaurants in Russia were renamed Vkusno & tochka in June under new ownership after the US fast food giant pulled out of the country in May following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Vkusno & tochka did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
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