Chris Dimopoulos, the owner of a takeaway shop in Australia known as Blue Sea Fish Shop, has taken to TikTok to express his outrage at McDonald’s for launching a new potato scallop item during a time when Australian small businesses are struggling to find enough potatoes to meet the demand.
In his video, Dimopoulos explains due to a processed potato shortage in Australia, fish and chip shops, cafes, restaurants, and even supermarkets have been struggling to get their hands on enough potatoes for their products.
He points out how McDonald’s has made the situation worse by launching a new potato scallop item, which has caused the price of chips to skyrocket.
Dimopoulos says McDonald’s has deep pockets and can afford to buy up all the potatoes and keep the price of chips high. He also points out that while McDonald’s can afford to do this, small businesses can’t and they are suffering because of it.
“I believe the current Macca’s potato cake and potato scallop publicity is merely a marketing ploy,” he said in his video.
“I am more concerned about where these potatoes for the potato cakes are coming from, considering Mcdonald’s Australia has an estimated 990 restaurants that serve around 1.7 million customers each day.”
“If we assume that a potato cake is sold to every 10 customers, this means Mcdonald’s is selling around 170,000 potato cakes daily. It’s no wonder that fish shops and other food stores are dealing with shortages of potatoes, chips, dim sims, cabbage and lettuce.”
A spokesperson for McDonald’s Australia, in a statement obtained by multiple media outlets, stated the chain had already sourced its potatoes for the scallops prior to the present shortage.
“For more than half a century, McDonald’s Australia has been dedicated to helping Aussie farmers. We make every effort to use local ingredients, such as Aussie potatoes for our renowned fries and hash browns,” the spokesperson said.
“We sourced our ingredients from Australian suppliers for our potato scallops prior to the current shortage, and in time for the launch of our Summer menu, which was all made here in Australia.”
