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My favourite example of these sort of extreme scaling issues are the fact that McDonald's apparently declined to sell products with blueberries in them because

My favourite example of these sort of extreme scaling issues are the fact that McDonald's apparently declined to sell products with blueberries in them because modelling showed they'd have to buy the world's entire supply of blueberries in order to do so.

notamy 4y ago
I thought this was hyperbolic, so I looked into it: > The menu team comes up with interesting ideas like including kale in salads. The procurement team and suppliers then try to get the menu team to understand the challenges. How do you bring kale to 14,000 restaurants? As one example, when they introduced Blueberry Smoothies in the U.S., McDonald’s ended up consuming one third of the blueberry market overnight. https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebanker/2015/10/14/mcdonalds-prioritizes-sustainable-beef/?sh=18078bf827b3 https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebanker/2015/10/14/mcdonald... I couldn't find any other source to back it up, but still wow! That's an absurd number.
menzoic 4y ago
McDonald's sells blueberry muffins
indigodaddy 4y ago
So there is an extreme dearth of blueberries I guess compared to other food goods? I mean, McDs isn’t taking over the entire supply of potatoes or chickens for example correct?
- zaroth 4y ago
  I think the point is that the supply chains probably need upwards of years of time to adapt in some cases, you can’t just turn on a recipe that needs a full cup of blueberries per serving on Monday and expect there to be a spare million cups of blueberries to be lying around the supply chain on Tuesday. In the case in animal product, there are almost certainly major operations worldwide that have been built and financed purely to serve McDonalds demand. They probably have to even build these out well before entering some markets.
- UncleEntity 4y ago
  They grow a lot of potatoes in the US. Last week I hauled a load of tater tots destined for McDonalds. I’ve hauled potato products for McDonalds quite often. They raise a lot of chickens in the US. I’ve hauled chicken nuggets or chicken breasts for McDonald’s in the past quite often. I can’t even tell you where they grow blueberries.

notamy 4y ago

I thought this was hyperbolic, so I looked into it: > The menu team comes up with interesting ideas like including kale in salads. The procurement team and suppliers then try to get the menu team to understand the challenges. How do you bring kale to 14,000 restaurants? As one example, when they introduced Blueberry Smoothies in the U.S., McDonald’s ended up consuming one third of the blueberry market overnight. https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebanker/2015/10/14/mcdonalds-prioritizes-sustainable-beef/?sh=18078bf827b3 https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebanker/2015/10/14/mcdonald... I couldn't find any other source to back it up, but still wow! That's an absurd number.

menzoic 4y ago

McDonald's sells blueberry muffins

indigodaddy 4y ago

So there is an extreme dearth of blueberries I guess compared to other food goods? I mean, McDs isn’t taking over the entire supply of potatoes or chickens for example correct?

zaroth 4y ago
I think the point is that the supply chains probably need upwards of years of time to adapt in some cases, you can’t just turn on a recipe that needs a full cup of blueberries per serving on Monday and expect there to be a spare million cups of blueberries to be lying around the supply chain on Tuesday. In the case in animal product, there are almost certainly major operations worldwide that have been built and financed purely to serve McDonalds demand. They probably have to even build these out well before entering some markets.
UncleEntity 4y ago
They grow a lot of potatoes in the US. Last week I hauled a load of tater tots destined for McDonalds. I’ve hauled potato products for McDonalds quite often. They raise a lot of chickens in the US. I’ve hauled chicken nuggets or chicken breasts for McDonald’s in the past quite often. I can’t even tell you where they grow blueberries.