No Fries Until Autumn at McDonald’s Replacement in Russia

Everyone was excited last month when restaurants in Russia that were McDonald’s reopened under a new name. However, the new company has a problem; not enough fries.

McDonald’s left Russia after the war in Ukraine started. After Western countries and others started sanctions against Russia, McDonald’s sold all of their restaurants to a local restaurant group in May.

The new owners now have problems getting potatoes because of a poor harvest in Russia and difficulties importing potatoes due to supply chain issues.

The restaurants started to reopen on June 12 under the new name, Vkusno & tochka (Tasty and that’s it). On the first day, it sold almost 120,000 burgers.

Last week, some customers started to post pictures of the new shops’ menu, but there were no fries. Vkusno & tochka said that fries and potato wedges won’t be on the menu at some shops until autumn.

Vkusno & tochka says that it has always tried to buy local ingredients, but now it has to. It is impossible to import from outside of Russia.

It also says that potatoes will be on the menu at the beginning of the next harvest, autumn 2022.

The French fry situation highlights some of the difficulties that Russian companies have because of sanctions as well as global supply chain issues.

Last month, Oleg Paroev, the Chief Executive of Vkusno & tochka, told Reuters that a large amount of ingredients came from abroad.

However, Russia’s agriculture ministry says that this year’s potato harvest will be bigger than last year’s and the Russian market will be fully supplied with potatoes.

The ministry says that there is no possibility of shortage this autumn.

VOCABULARY

• Fries – French fries (US), crisps (UK); deep fried pieces of potato
• Western countries – usually means non-communist countries in Europe, North America, and Oceania
• Sanction – an economic penalty or punishment that one country does to another country
• Harvest – to gather or collect crops (vegetables, fruit, grain, etc.); the period or season when people collect crops
• Supply chain – network of businesses, people and materials to make a product
• Import –  to bring in goods, products, and/or services from another country
• Highlight – to make clear; to bring people’s attention to it; to emphasize
• Chief Executive – CEO; the top person in a large company
• Ingredient – one item or type of food used with other types of food to make a meal or dish (tomato and cheese are pizza ingredients)
• Abroad – outside of the country; another country
• Agriculture – the science or job of farming; the industry of growing food and raising animals for food
• Ministry – a department of a government (education ministry, health ministry, etc.)Shortage – limited supply; not enough; too little

Original story from Reuters below:

www.reuters.com

No fries till autumn at some of McDonald’s Russian successor restaurants

Excitement was on the menu when former McDonald’s restaurants reopened in Russia last month under new management and branding, but the successor to the golden-arched throne has a problem: a shortage of French fries.