Fast food restaurants have trouble bringing back french fries

If the situation is going well with ordinary potatoes for the borscht set, the yield, judging by the forecasts, will not fail, but nothing is clear with the French fries. For this reason, fast food lovers are in great sorrow. They do not recognize the golden straw that was before, before the departure of McDonald’s. They say it’s not real! “MK” tried to shed light on the future of this variety of potatoes, and therefore, fast food plants.

According to some sources, after McDonald’s left the market, we were denied the supply of french fries by its producers in Europe. And Russia does not produce such a product itself. According to another version, domestic farmers grow fries in their fields, but on our soils it turns out a little different, its taste is worse than European.

Both circumstances do not bode well for lovers of Big Macs, Cheeseburgers or whatever replaces them now … What is fast food without a long crispy strip of fries?

Experts interviewed by MK argue that the taste of the current straw cannot be worse than it was before. “Anyhow you can’t cook it from anything, there are only three varieties of french fries in the world: you can’t confuse them with any other varieties. In Russia, the Innovator variety is mainly used. It cannot give a different taste. Only a slight difference in appearance is allowed, the straw is not quite golden or with a small brown border around the edges.

As for these varieties, all three are imported. In Russia, according to experts, a variety of such tubers has been bred. But since this business is wholly owned by foreigners, no one needed the Russian one before. Foreigners are “sharpened” for their raw materials.

– The main supplies of french fries for McDonald’s and other brands operating in our country came from Poland, – says an expert familiar with the market. – There is a large factory of a French fry company. But now, due to sanctions, products from Europe cannot enter our country.

However, there is no reason to be upset. There is a similar large enterprise in China, which will be able to supply these products to our fast food factories. “This is a very big business and hardly anyone will refuse it. By parallel import, we can receive the same potatoes from Poland, only through other countries.”

– In Russia, french fries are grown in the Lipetsk region, – the expert continues. – After one of our businessmen sold his stake in the company, it became completely foreign. But potatoes are grown locally in Russia, although on imported seeds. Basically, it’s “Innovator”: real french fries, tasty, with a straw length of 6 to 10 centimeters. It is also supplied to retail chains, but I can’t say which ones specifically.

That potato, the quality of which is complained about by the visitors of the Vkusno. And the point, ”according to the expert, is made in Poland. There are a lot of non-standard straws, 3 centimeters long. And it is not clear how the products end up in fast food factories.

The volume of production of Russian fries is small, about 80 thousand tons. Of course, it cannot completely replace the volumes that were before American fast food left the Russian market.

“Burger King” continues to work, there are straws. If McDonald’s opens under a new sign across the country, there will be fries too. This is a private business, it will be brought from anywhere. It will rise in price, but will be. None of the foreigners will leave the potato market, because almost all of it belongs to them. Starting from seeds and ending with equipment, potato processing lines for the same french fries, chips or crispy.

In bulk purchases, the price of fries is about twice as high as that of regular ware potatoes: about 28 rubles a kilogram. It can be used as a table, but it is not economical. The growing season is at least 110 days (for food varieties 65-70 and 85-90). It is grown in regions where it is warmer than in the Moscow region – in the Lipetsk and partly in the Tambov regions.

These potatoes must necessarily have a high starch content, 20-22%, and a low sugar content, up to 0.5%. There are features in shapes and sizes: they are oblong, 6 to 10 centimeters long. From such tubers, a beautiful “straw” is obtained. Another difference from the usual “second bread” is the shallow occurrence of the eyes and their certain number.

In general, this is a completely different technology, which, according to the interlocutor, also belongs to the Dutch and in the production process (from scratch on a turnkey basis) a foreign company constantly participates in it.

Here, this nuance can become a stumbling block in the work of domestic fast food restaurants. If Western partners, under pressure from their authorities, decide to leave our market, refusing to supply seeds or reduce their volumes, we will find ourselves with a broken trough.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 28842 dated August 9, 2022

Newspaper headline:
Here I am no longer an eater