McDonald’s garlic fries may be its most successful test ever, Fortune magazine asserted soon after the new item was introduced at the beginning of May. Less than two weeks later, McD’s announced via its Bay Area Twitter handle that the four San Francisco stores in test had run out of the fries, and disappointed customers would have to wait a few weeks before supply could catch up with demand.
While it’s the Golden Arches’ amped-up iteration that made headlines, several other Top 500 chains are capitalizing on consumers’ penchant for seasoned fries (53 percent prefer them that way, Technomic research shows), using them as the vehicle for LTOs with trendy toppings and regional ingredients.