McDonald’s Snack Wrap causes alarming shortage | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

The McDonald’s Snack Wrap is finally back after years of fans begging the fast-food chain to relaunch the beloved menu item.

However, despite being the company’s most anticipated return, the hype led to some alarming issues it hadn’t foreseen.

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The McDonald’s Snack Wrap debuted nationwide in 2006 and quickly became a fan favorite. However, it was discontinued in 2016, since it was time-consuming to prepare and placed a financial burden on the fast-food chain.

Due to consumer demand, McDonald’s returned the Snack Wrap to select locations across the U.S. for a limited time in 2020, but it was eventually removed from all menus by the end of the year.

Still, customers remained vocal. After much fan pleading, the company announced it would relaunch the menu item, officially bringing it back to all locations nationwide on July 10.

McDonald’s Snack Wrap faces a troublesome issue.

Image Source&colon; Chip East/Bloomberg via Getty Image

McDonald’s suffers an unexpected product shortage

Following the reintroduction of its infamous Snack Wrap, McDonald’s (MCD) suffered a lettuce shortage, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

To quickly address the issue while working on a long-term solution, the fast-food giant instructed the affected franchisees to prioritize lettuce in the Snack Wrap and reduce its usage in other menu items, like the McChicken, that contain the ingredient.

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However, McDonald’s knew some customers would not be okay with a lettuce-less McChicken, so if they were unsatisfied, employees were advised to suggest McNuggets or a McDouble instead.

The lettuce shortage was brief and has now been solved, but there’s more to this panic. Although the temporary lettuce shortage might have annoyed customers, McDonald’s was probably jumping for joy.

McDonald’s makes an unfortunate miscalculation with a positive outcome

Like most food companies, McDonald’s calculates the supplies needed at each location based on demand forecasting and inventory management to minimize food waste.

Ahead of the Snack Wrap relaunch, McDonald’s projected the necessary quantities of each ingredient to ensure a smooth rollout, most likely using historical sales data from previous years.

So, although it may sound contradictory, the resulting shortage is actually a positive indicator that the Snack Wrap investment is exceeding expectations and resonating with consumers more than it did when initially launched.

This is a promising sign for McDonald’s U.S. business, which has been struggling with tumultuous slowdowns and concerning declines.

The company’s same-store sales fell 3.6% during the first quarter of 2025, marking the biggest drop in nearly five years.

A significant contributor behind these troublesome numbers was a decline in guest traffic, but with the return of the Snack Wrap, McDonald’s may turn its business around faster than anticipated.