Another frozen Potato Supply Chain hickup: NO Fries for KFC customers in Singapore

In another hickup of the global supply chain for frozen potato products / french fries, KFC Singapore said on Thursday April 28 that it is not offering French fries for now but assured customers that the item 'will be back soon'.

Instead, the fast-food chain is offering wedges, cheese wedges and golden cheddar wedges on its menu in Singapore. In a post on its Facebook page, KFC shared an image that reads, “French fries will be away on annual leave to ‘find themselves’” and that its wedges “will be covering for French fries”. 

KFC’s post comes more than two months after it announced that “limited French fries” were available due to a global supply disruption. It said then that all meal bundles with French fries would be temporarily replaced with waffle hash and “trade-ups” to French fries and cheese fries were not available during the period.

A combination of factors including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, unpredictable weather patterns and supply chain constraints had caused severe disruption to potato shipments around the world in recent months.

McDonald’s outlets in Japan sold French fries in small sizes only from late December. Earlier this month, Lotteria and McDonald’s in South Korea informed customers that they were looking to replace French fries with other items. South Africa’s major potato chip makers had also warned of a critical shortage of potatoes earlier this year.