There is a shortage of potatoes in Russia to make the classic dish on the menu of any self-respecting fast food restaurant. Vkusno – i Tochka restaurant chain (formerly McDonald’s ) justifies itself with a statement released by Tass in which it denounces the scarcity of the harvest and the inability to import from overseas. The Ministry of Agriculture has silenced the “Delicious and enough”, emphasizing that “the potatoes are just there”. “There are no problems, and the new harvest is on its way.”
Supply chain crisis or effect of sanctions
It is not about chips or rare materials, nor about the corn stuck in Ukrainian ports, but about potatoes. A few weeks after the start of the war against Ukraine, fried potatoes and “rustic potatoes”, a slightly thicker version, went missing from the menus. And they won’t be there until the fall. The question, only apparently of a full second, soon turned into politics, with the government taking the field to deny any kind of supply problem.
The right potatoes to produce the dishes that accompany the burgers are nowhere to be found. In 2021, the harvest of this variety went badly; the company is justified in a statement published by Tass. In general, potatoes are bought from local producers. The climate of self-sufficiency reigns now in Russia. In recent months, it is also impossible to import potatoes from markets that could have offered an interim solution. Hence, there are no alternatives. No fried potatoes.
The Ministry of Agriculture then intervened, mimicking the name of the fast food chain, ensuring that “There are potatoes – and that’s it”. “The Russian market is stocked with potatoes, including processed potatoes. In addition, the new crop is coming, which excludes the possibility of a shortage of the product, the ministry added.
Meanwhile, another fast food chain, KFC, has also begun to experience problems with potatoes. The network’s website and the app no longer display medium and large french fries and rustic fries. Before that, due to the imposition of sanctions on Polish potatoes, hashbrowns disappeared from there.