McDonald’s Indonesia announced that it is experiencing a potato shortage, leading them to limit the sale of the all-time favourite menu, the iconic french fries, starting today (2 February). 

The french fries will only be available in small and medium sizes nationwide for the time being. McDonald’s Indonesia spokesperson Sutji Lantyka explained that the potato fry-sis is caused by global disruptions to spud supply delivery.

“This is due to the delivery constraints of potato supplies related to the COVID-19 pandemic. But we can assure you that McDonald’s will continue to take proactive measures to meet the consumer demand,” she said.

Indonesia becomes the next country that is forced to temporarily remove its large french fries menu, joining Japan, Taiwan and Malaysia.

In Japan, McDonald’s has been selling only small french fries since last December. They said the shortage happened due to the impact of a large flood near the Port of Vancouver in Canada, which handles much of the company's imports of potatoes from North America.

McDonald's Malaysia started to limit the large french fries last week, as confirmed in their social media, stating that "we are facing a fry-tening supply crunch”. It also said that it would "closely monitor" supplies, and that large portions would be offered as soon as possible.

Earlier this month, McDonald's Taiwan announced that it is experiencing "unstable" shipping supplies which had caused some of its stores to run out of hash browns which are imported from the United States.

McDonald’s is not the only one hit by supply shortage. A few weeks ago, KFC Australia announced that it is experiencing shortages of fresh chicken. Not only chicken, KFC stores in Australia are also running out of staff.  

On its website, KFC reiterated that “like many businesses across Australia, our supply chain & workforce has been impacted by COVID-19”, adding that “this has disrupted production and distribution capability, and impacted sales”.

The pandemic has indeed hit the fast food chain all over the world. Last year,  Chick-fil-A limited the number of sauces it usually gives out to its customers, while Nandos and Taco Bell limited sales of several items. McDonald’s in the UK also experienced milkshake shortages last year.