McDonald’s Snack Wrap demand causes lettuce shortage at some of its restaurants

The debut of McDonald’s snack wrap earlier this month triggered so much unexpected demand that it temporarily depleted its lettuce supplies. 

Less than a week after the Snack Wrap, fried chicken strips rolled in a tortilla, returned to menus, McDonald’s sent notices to U.S. franchisees to hold off on adding shredded lettuce to its McChicken sandwiches in order to conserve supplies, according to a company memo seen by The Wall Street Journal.

The directive, sent to franchisees last week, aimed to help locations that had been running low on supplies, though McDonald’s said it was only a temporary issue. 

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McDonald’s said it followed its typical process in terms of projecting and anticipating how much supply would be needed across restaurants. However, it didn’t expect such a surge in pent-up demand. 

The Snack Wrap hit menus on July 10, nine years after it was removed nationwide. 

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“After nine years of pent up demand, fans showed up in full force to celebrate the return of the Snack Wrap,” McDonald’s told FOX Business. “We’ve been blown away by the response, from packed restaurants with lines out the door to nonstop social buzz.” 

The company said that the supply shortage of lettuce has been resolved and remains stable as of Wednesday. Any other ingredient outages have also been temporary as ingredients are frequently being restocked.

McDonald’s had long been promoting the snack wrap’s return. In mid-April, the company hinted on social media that it would arrive “0x.14.2025.” Before that, McDonald’s U.S. President Joe Erlinger revealed in early December the company had plans to relaunch snack wraps in 2025, telling “Good Morning America” they had a “cult following” and that he had received “so many emails into my inbox about this product.” 

McDonald’s said its customers’ love for snack wraps made it decide to bring them back. 

“From countless social media posts to full-fledged petitions, they never gave up on their favorite menu item,” the company said. “They’re the ones who inspired us to make its return to the menu happen.” 

FOX Business’ Sophia Compton contributed to this report.