The fast-food industry has faced unprecedented challenges in recent years, with workers on the front lines witnessing shortages that would make even the most seasoned manager’s head spin. From supply chain disruptions to labor shortages, restaurant employees have watched helplessly as popular menu items disappeared from shelves faster than they could be restocked. Executives from fast-food and quick-service brands from Burger King to Taco Bell have said that lack of workers is causing restaurants to cut back on open hours and in some cases menu items.
What started as initial hiccups has evolved into a complex web of challenges that continues to plague the industry today. These aren’t just minor inconveniences either. We’re talking about signature items, beloved favorites, and essential ingredients that form the backbone of America’s favorite quick-service restaurants.
Chicken Products During Peak Demand Periods
First, in 2024, the chain replaced its antibiotic-free chicken with chicken it describes as raised with no antibiotics important to human medicine. Whether or not that change is resulting in lower quality chicken is up for debate, but regardless, a fair number of Chick-fil-A customers have found that its chicken has gone downhill. Workers at chicken-focused restaurants have consistently struggled to maintain adequate supplies of their core protein offerings. The challenge extends beyond just having enough chicken on hand to managing quality expectations while dealing with supply constraints.
The shift in sourcing standards created additional complications for kitchen staff who had to adapt to new products while maintaining customer satisfaction. Many employees reported having to constantly apologize to customers for longer wait times or temporary shortages of specific chicken items.
According to the release from the fast-food chain, the decision to change its ingredient standards for meat were driven by supply issues. International poultry trade projections back up that claim. These supply-side pressures forced restaurants to make difficult decisions about ingredient sourcing that directly impacted their ability to maintain consistent stock levels.
Fresh Produce and Vegetables
Given that Russia and Ukraine grow roughly 30% of the world’s wheat exports, the war has significantly impacted the global supply of flour. However, the war isn’t the only responsible party for today’s flour shortage. We can also blame climate change for reducing wheat crop yields, leading to a flour shortage and impacting prices and availability for many foods requiring flour. While this specifically addresses grain products, the same global pressures affected fresh produce supplies that fast-food workers depended on for salads, burgers, and other menu items.
Workers frequently found themselves having to substitute ingredients or remove certain items from the menu altogether when fresh vegetables became unavailable. The unpredictable nature of these shortages made it nearly impossible to plan ahead or communicate accurately with customers about what would be available on any given day.
Climate-related disruptions combined with transportation challenges meant that even basic items like lettuce, tomatoes, and onions became precious commodities that workers had to ration carefully throughout their shifts.
Specialty Beverages and Limited-Time Offers
While the PSL remained a staple, Starbucks’ 2024 fall menu expanded to include the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, which offered a cooler, creamier take on pumpkin flavor, appealing to cold brew aficionados. Further diversifying their autumn menu, Starbucks introduced the Apple Crisp Oatmilk Macchiato, blending the comforting flavors of apple crisp with plant-based oat milk, catering to a wider audience. The Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai and Iced Apple Crisp Oatmilk Shaken Espresso also joined the lineup, showcasing a commitment to iced variations of popular fall flavors, reflecting a growing consumer preference for cold beverages year-round. However, the introduction of these complex beverages often outpaced the supply chain’s ability to deliver the specialized ingredients needed.
Baristas and food service workers found themselves constantly running out of seasonal syrups, specialty milk alternatives, and flavoring components that made these limited-time offers possible. The complexity of sourcing multiple unique ingredients for promotional items created logistical nightmares for staff trying to fulfill customer orders.
Many workers reported that the most frustrating part wasn’t just being out of ingredients, but having to disappoint customers who had specifically come in for advertised items that were no longer available due to supply shortages.
Packaging Materials and To-Go Containers
Sometimes that’s difficult to do, especially in our world where there’re so many proprietary products you can’t just pick up at the local market.” Mandell adds that the company has experienced some temporary outages, with items such as packaging. “On any given day, we might have a challenge with cups,” she says. This seemingly mundane issue created major operational headaches for fast-food workers who couldn’t serve customers without proper containers.
The shortage of cups, lids, straws, and food containers meant that workers often had to get creative with packaging solutions or turn customers away entirely. Some locations resorted to using mismatched containers or asking customers to bring their own cups during particularly severe shortages.
Workers discovered that packaging shortages were often more disruptive than food shortages because they affected every single order, making it impossible to maintain normal service levels even when all the food items were available.
Premium Menu Items and Signature Sandwiches
Customers have noticed classic items like the Baconator and the Vanilla Frosty, among others, tasting worse than they remember. Workers at various chains struggled to maintain consistent availability of their most popular and profitable menu items, often due to the complexity of sourcing multiple specialized ingredients for a single product.
The Baconator, being a premium item requiring multiple types of meat and cheese, became particularly difficult to keep fully stocked when any component experienced supply disruptions. Workers frequently had to modify orders or suggest alternatives when key ingredients were unavailable.
These signature items often represented the highest profit margins for restaurants, making their unavailability doubly frustrating for both workers trying to meet sales targets and managers watching revenue decline due to supply issues beyond their control.
Frozen Dessert Items and Ice Cream Products
Champagne isn’t the only alcohol in short supply as 2024 concluded. Beer also faced shortages and rising prices, partly due to aluminum scarcity. While aluminum constraints affected beverages, the same shortages impacted ice cream machines and frozen dessert equipment that rely on aluminum components for maintenance and operation.
Workers at chains known for their frozen treats found themselves dealing with equipment failures that couldn’t be quickly repaired due to parts shortages. When ice cream machines broke down, entire menu categories became unavailable overnight, forcing staff to repeatedly disappoint customers looking for milkshakes, sundaes, or frozen beverages.
The mechanical complexity of ice cream equipment combined with supply chain disruptions for replacement parts meant that some locations went weeks without being able to serve their most popular dessert items.
Breakfast Items During Morning Rush
Yum Brands, which operates brands like KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, has also seen worker shortages limit what hours its restaurants are open. “U.S. labor availability remains tight across most industries, driving wage inflation and staffing challenges that have resulted in a small number of our stores limiting operating hours, particularly during the early morning and late-night,” Yum Brands CFO Chris Turner said on the company’s third quarter earnings call. This operational challenge directly impacted breakfast service, as reduced morning hours and understaffing made it difficult to maintain adequate supplies of time-sensitive breakfast items.
Breakfast items like fresh eggs, bacon, and breakfast pastries have short shelf lives and require careful inventory management. When staffing shortages reduced early morning preparation time, workers found themselves running out of breakfast items before the morning rush even peaked.
The combination of labor shortages and supply chain disruptions meant that many locations had to discontinue breakfast service entirely or severely limit their morning menu offerings, disappointing customers who had come to rely on these convenient breakfast options.
French Fries and Potato Products
Recipe changes at various chains have often been implemented to address supply chain challenges, as restaurants work to maintain consistent availability of popular items like french fries. Recipe changes often masked underlying supply issues, as restaurants scrambled to maintain fry availability amid potato supply disruptions.
Workers had to deal with customer complaints about taste changes while also managing actual shortages of potato products that forced these recipe modifications in the first place. The dual challenge of explaining new formulations while managing limited supplies created additional stress for front-line employees.
Potato supply chains proved particularly vulnerable to weather disruptions and transportation issues, making french fries one of the most unpredictable items for workers to keep consistently available during peak demand periods.
Bread and Baked Goods
Given the flour shortage, a bread shortage became inevitable in 2024. The war in Ukraine continued to impact grain exports – and, by extension, flour – creating supply pressures with no immediate end in sight. Sandwich-focused chains faced particular challenges, as these shortages threatened their core menu offerings.
The impact of flour shortages rippled through entire menu categories, affecting not just sandwich bread but also buns for burgers, wraps for Mexican-style items, and pizza crusts for Italian chains. Workers found themselves having to constantly adjust portion sizes or substitute different bread types to maintain service.
While customers have found that Panera has been steadily declining over the years, the chain announced in 2024 that it would no longer prepare its own fresh dough. For those who were already starting to feel iffy about the state of Panera, this decision was just about the opposite of what the chain needed to win back some goodwill. This decision reflected the broader challenges chains faced in maintaining fresh baked goods when supply disruptions made consistent production nearly impossible.
