Philippines fast food restaurants halt serving large french fries due to ‘international potato shortage’

Albert Rosales

April 25, 2022

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  French fries have always been part of Filipino choices whenever they want to order something from any fast food restaurant. Of course, the larger your French fries, the better. Some even enjoy a weird combination of fries and sundae or gravy.

  However, you might not be able to enjoy your fries the way you did before. Majority of fast food restaurants in the Philippines announced that the medium and large variants are not available for the time being due to a potato shortage. The shortage was brought by the COVID-19 and extreme weather conditions.

  How does COVID-19 and extreme weather conditions affect the supply of French fries?

  This shortage in potatoes not only affects the Philippines food industry but the global market as well. In South Africa, shortage was attributed to the frost condition that affects the crop that is used to make potato chips.

  Meanwhile, Canada had to stop exporting potatoes after they discovered a “potato wart fungus” back in November 2021. 

  On top of that, the pandemic also disrupted the operations of many ports in the West Coast of US and Canada due to labor shortage and travel restrictions. Resulting in overloaded shipyards and limited supplies. 

  McDonalds Philippines cited the “freight crisis” that the industry is currently experiencing as the reason why they have limited supply of French fries. The crisis is so severe that some fast food chains recently resorted to replacing French fry side orders with chicken nuggets or cheese sticks instead.

  Any alternatives on our French fries craving?

  There are a lot and we mean A LOT of root crops that can be an alternative for French fries right now. So, while we’re waiting for the situation to normalize, you can try out these alternative:

  Zucchini Fries
  Beet Fries
  Taro Fries
  Carrot Fries
  Parsnip Fries
  Green Bean Fries
  Avocado Fries
  Sweet Potato Fries
  Asparagus Fries
  Chickpea Fries

  Some of these alternatives even have a healthier benefit than its potato counterpart. So, try these out and let us know how it tastes compared to our favorite French fries! Enjoy!

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