Georgia Gold coffee is one of the fast-moving items on the menu Popular beverage unavailable because fast food chain is changing suppliers, say company officials

Georgia Gold coffee is one of the fast-moving items on the menu

Popular beverage unavailable because fast food chain is changing suppliers, say company officials

When you are in the mood for a piping hot coffee, a cold cola can be quite a dampener. Customers at McDonald’s outlets in city are facing precisely this disappointment, with the MNC fast-food chain running out of its beans, literally. The hot favourite of Mumbaikars has gone off the menu for the past one week at all city outlets of McDonald’s due to supply issues with the vendors. McDonald’s has more than 40 outlets in Mumbai, and its Georgia Gold coffee — priced at Rs39 — is one of the fast-moving items on the menu. “We were driving to Lonavala over the weekend and a hot cup of coffee at the Kalamboli McDonald’s was just what we needed on a rainy day. We were surprised when the attendant said they neither had the coffee nor the hot chocolate,” said Wadala resident Jyoti Amre. It is particularly surprising that an MNC outlet like McDonald’s that has hugely promoted its breakfast menu in recent times should not have a hot beverage on offer. “This is a rarest of rare occurrence,” admitted Purvin Patel, chief operating officer, Radhakrishna Foodland, the supply chain management agency for McDonald’s. Patel said that the supply chain of McDonald’s is so perfect that even a particular variant of a burger being out of stock is rare. “Coffee not being available for days together is unheard of,” he said. He added that his company is responsible only for trucking and storage of the material, and the sourcing of coffee beans is done directly by McDonald’s. An official at Hardcastle Restaurants, the company that runs McDonald’s in the city, said the unavailability of coffee is due to a change of supplier and switching to a better quality of beans. He added that even a couple of years ago, the supplier of coffee beans was changed when the quality of the Indian supplier was found not up to the mark by the parent company. A spokesperson of Hardcastle Restaurants said that there is a stock issue and that coffee continues to be part of the menu. “It will be back very soon,” the spokesperson said.