More fast food restaurants have announced menu changes amid shortages of Australian food, but a popular chain has not been affected.
Two more fast food chains have been forced to make changes to menus amid rising vegetable costs in Australia, but there is one popular restaurant that has not been affected.
Red Rooster and Oporto told news.com.au that due to the shortage of lettuce across the country, both restaurants are “temporarily using a mixture of lettuce and cabbage in some menu items.”
The dramatic play comes after Subway and KFC made similar changes after recent floods in Queensland and NSW saw lettuce prices soar, reaching $ 12 per head.
However, McDonald’s Australia has confirmed that it is not currently affected by the spiral lettuce disaster, telling news.com.au: “We are working closely with our suppliers to continue to offer our full menu to customers.”
Red Rooster alerted consumers to the menu change with a humorous post on Instagram Thursday night that has had a mixed response.
“The boss just called to find out lettuce …” says a series of photos.
“Due to recent floods, there is a shortage of leafy material.
“As a result, we are temporarily using a mixture of lettuce and cabbage until further notice.”
The Red Rooster ended up subtitling the ad: “We’ll never delay it.”
While many of the chicken giant’s 22,400 followers saw the fun side, joining their own puns in the comment sections, others were outraged.
“There’s no shortage here, they only cost $ 12 each !!!!” one user, who does not seem to understand the situation, wrote.
“Cringe, it’s not like you can’t get lettuce,” said another.
However, not everyone was angry, and some clarified the situation in a spiral, including this cookie: “COS, it can’t get any worse.”
Others even urged the Red Rooster to “keep the cabbage permanently.”
Many KFC fans were also frustrated by the recent decision to switch to the cabbage and lettuce mix, and some called it a “strange choice.”
“The fact that you’re replacing lettuce with cabbage makes me rethink my entire KFC meal. There are four or five more things I would eat before cabbage. It’s such a weird choice,” one person tweeted.
“It feels like a sign of the apocalypse,” another said.
Subway followed suit, becoming the second fast food chain to make the major change to its famous sandwiches.
Officially, the menu changes are “temporary”, but experts have warned that the shortage of vegetables, which currently also affects peppers and spinach, could continue for at least the next three months.
Bill Bulmer, a Victorian lettuce grower and chairman of the Australian Vegetable Producers Industry Agency, AUSVEG, told 3AW that another vegetable would also be added to the list of scarce vegetables soon.
“Then probably the scarcity approaching spring will be the onion,” he said Tuesday.
As we have seen with lettuce, the scarcity of onions is set to cause vegetable prices to skyrocket.
Supermarket giant Woolworths has also informed customers that it is experiencing a slight disruption to some other vegetables, such as Lebanese cucumbers, kale, fresh herbs, zucchini, beans, tomatoes, peppers, berries, broccoli and spinach.
Bulmer explained that the devastating floods in Queensland were the main driver of this shortage, eliminating about 80 percent of lettuce crops.
“La Nina has been hitting us in the last 12 months. Australia’s main lettuce region at this time of year is outside Brisbane, in the Gatton region, and has been affected by floods in February and May, “he told the station. of radio.
“In normal times, you’d probably see $ 1.50 to $ 2.50 lettuce in the grocery store right now.”
The president of the AUSVEG said that at the moment he would not even bother to buy lettuce in the supermarket due to the large rise in prices.
“I’ve heard prices between $ 10 and $ 12. That’s a supply and demand issue,” he said.
“There are pockets of lettuce here and there all over Australia, but as I said, most of it comes from the Gatton region at this time of year.
“The people who want them are paying for them.”