INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Former McDonald's restaurants in Russia are facing a shortage of French fries due to a poor harvest and Western sanctions over Ukraine, a
business newspaper reported on Friday.The US fast-food giant announced in May that it would exit Russia in the wake of Moscow's offensive in
Ukraine.A Russian businessman bought the 850-restaurant operation, with the brand now known as "Vkusno i Tochka" ("Delicious
Full Stop").The restaurant that launched McDonald's in Russia in 1990, heralding Moscow's opening after decades of Soviet rule, reopened in
June with a new name and logo.But now some restaurants of the chain are seeing a shortage of French fries."Some of the newly-opened Vkusno i
Tochka restaurants will not have any French fries," business newspaper RBC said, quoting the company."Vkusno i Tochka" did not immediately
reply to a request for comment from AFP.The shortage has been linked to a poor harvest in 2021 as well as the company's inability to import
March that it was scrapping plans to build a plant in Russia and suspending all shipments of its products into the Russian market.
