As a result of the dry weather, potatoes are smaller than usual this year. Because of the small-sized potatoes, fries will also be shorter this year. This is problematic for fast food chain McDonald’s. “When the fries don’t meet our specifications, it affects the specialised equipment in our kitchens that measure, position and fry our fries,” says Eunice Koekkoek of MacDonald’s Netherlands. “The equipment has been carefully adjusted to the specifications we pass on to our suppliers. Because of the shorter fries, we have to readjust our equipment.”
McDonald’s, with the knowledge they have now, has agreed to use this potato harvest for their French fries. “Our guests won’t be used to our shorter fries, but we can’t do anything about this. It doesn’t mean our portions will consist of fewer grammes, length will just be different. We informed our workers in our restaurants about this, and when guests have questions about our products, they’ll be answered on our social channels,” McDonald’s said.
Suppliers
“Besides the quality of our products, the relationship with our suppliers is also important. This extreme situation is discussed with them as well. The suppliers talk about it with their growers. We understand the dry weather had consequences for the entire potato production, and that this has resulted in an operational challenge,” Eunice says.
Innovator
In the Netherlands, Lamb Weston/Meijer supplies the fries to McDonald’s. The potato variety used for the French fries is Innovator. A third of the potatoes that are processed comes from the Netherlands, while 40 per cent comes from Belgium and 10 per cent comes from France and Germany.
For more information:
McDonalds Nederland
Paasheuvelweg 14
1105 BH Amsterdam, the Netherlands
+31 (0)20 22 54 000
www.mcdonalds.nl