McDonald’s Japan to only sell small McFry sizes for 7 days

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:45 JST, December 23, 2021

McDonald’s Japan will suspend sales of its medium and large McFry french fries nationwide from Dec. 24 to 30, due to a delay in importing potatoes from North America.

Only the small McFry size will be sold during this period, including in set menus. If procurement goes smoothly, the company plans to return to regular sales from 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 31.

The COVID-19 pandemic has strained global logistics networks, and massive flooding near the port of Vancouver, a transit point for shipping, has also led to delays in obtaining potatoes.

McDonald’s Japan’s Value Sets and Value Lunches will be discounted by ¥50, and their usual medium fries replaced with a small. The PoteNage Dai and PoteNage Tokudai sets — combinations of McFry french fries and Chicken McNuggets offered after 5 p.m. as part of the Yoru Mac menu — will not be sold during the seven-day period.

This is the first time since the end of 2014 that McDonald’s Japan will limit fries to small sizes. At that time, prolonged labor-management negotiations at a port facility on the west coast of the United States affected the import of ingredients.

KFC Holdings Japan, Ltd. has also been affected by the import delays. It suspended the sale of french fries at some of its 200 Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets from Oct. 8 to 21.