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McDonald’s Korea and Lotteria are suffering from frozen potato shortages, scrambling to replace their French fries with chicken nuggets or cheese sticks due to supply chain problems amid the COVID-19 pandemic, company officials said Friday.

As Kim Jae-heun reports for The Korea Times, more consumers, as a result, are expressing frustrations over the changes, as both hamburger franchises have been changing their menus frequently, as seen in their response to the previous tomato and lettuce supply crisis. Lotteria posted an online notification that some of its restaurants may replace French fries with other sides due to the shortage. McDonald’s has also been sharing a similar post asking for customers’ understanding. Lotte GRS, operator of Lotteria, reportedly said it is seeking other global potato suppliers instead of the U.S., where the fast food franchise imports most of its frozen potatoes from. “We started to import frozen potatoes from Europe last year to cope with repeated supply difficulties. The quality of potatoes may be different (from American potatoes), but the company decided it is better to supply the food stably first,” a Lotte GRS official said.

Source: The Korea Times. Read the full story here Photo: Credit Mike on Unsplash