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| McDonald's hamburger set menu item / Courtesy of McDonald's Korea |
By Kim Jae-heun
McDonald's Korea is struggling once again to secure sufficient amounts of lettuce for its burgers, raising questions about its ability to ensure a stable supply of raw ingredients, according to industry officials, Wednesday.
On Tuesday, McDonald's Korea posted a notification on its website saying, "Some restaurants may serve products with little or no lettuce due to unstable lettuce supply caused by weather events. In these cases, a free drink coupon that can be redeemed in our restaurants will be provided with your order."
The company's spokesman said local firms have been unable to produce enough lettuce in recent weeks due to Typhoon Hinnamnor and other unfavorable weather conditions. Last year, McDonald's failed to secure a stable supply of potatoes and tomatoes.
Against these backdrops, the Korean unit of the world's largest fast food chain said it is preparing countermeasures to cope with the same issue in the future, but declined to reveal details.
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| McDonald's Korea posted a notification about a shortage of lettuce on its website, Tuesday. Screenshot from McDonald's Korea's official website |
"We get our vegetables from local farms that we have established business partnership with. However, due to frequent vegetable supply issues we faced recently, the company is looking for other suppliers in the country," a McDonald's Korea official said.
The official added not all the vegetables used at McDonald's Korea restaurants come from local farms and a small portion is imported from overseas. But it cannot increase the import volume of vegetable ingredients due to food quality issues.
"We cannot give much details, but we are currently coming up with a confirmatory method to supply vegetables stably in the country," the official said.
A fast food industry official said on condition of anonymity there isn't much McDonald's or other chains can do about the supply issues.
"McDonald's is not the only one grappling with a vegetable supply shortage. I heard other franchises like Subway are also facing difficulties sourcing enough lettuce. They just have to find other suppliers for now," the official said.
Each year, McDonald's Korea receives 4,200 tons of lettuce, mainly from Gangwon Province. However, due to the recent heat wave and heavy rainfall, many local farms in the province failed to produce enough lettuce. This led lettuce prices to hike.
At an agricultural and fishery wholesale market in Garak-dong, Seoul, last Friday, 10 kilograms of lettuce was traded at an average of 28,975 won ($20.84), up by 65.9 percent from 17,464 won last month. Comparing to the lettuce price from last September, it increased by 134 percent for the same amount of lettuce traded at the market.
