What Will Saweetie’s McDonald’s Meal Do to the Chicken Shortage?!

The Saweetie Meal | McDonald’s

The rapper’s signature order features a four-piece McNuggets at a time when demand for chicken is outpacing supply

McDonald’s announced it’s continuing on the limited-edition celebrity collaboration meal track, this time with rapper Saweetie. The Saweetie Meal, debuting August 9, features a Big Mac, a four-piece Chicken McNuggets, medium fries, medium Sprite, Tangy BBQ Sauce, and something called “Saweetie ‘N Sour” sauce.

Recently, Saweetie has emerged not only as a musician, but as an amateur chef. She published a set of recipes for things like “Oysters a la Top Ramen” and “Secret Alfredo Sauce” on The Ringer, and will be featured in Paris Hilton’s new cooking show, Cooking With Paris. She also went viral for putting ranch dressing on pasta. In a statement, Saweetie says she hopes her love of mashing up flavors is apparent in her meal.

“McDonald’s and I run deep – from growing up back in Hayward, California, all through my college days – so I had to bring my icy gang in on my all-time favorites,” she said. “Depending on the mood I’m in, there are so many ways to enjoy my order.”

McDonald’s released an image of ways to mix and match the meal, including putting fries in the Big Mac, or putting Chicken McNuggets between the buns.

McDonald’s

The meal is being released at a time when the U.S. is facing supply chain shortages in many staple ingredients, including chicken. Due in part to the fast food chicken sandwich wars (which McDonald’s recently attempted to enter again), chicken supply is low, and chickens can’t hatch enough eggs to meet demand. “In addition to breeding woes, the American chicken industry that is concentrated largely in the South contended with a severe winter storm in February that killed hundreds of thousands of birds,” according to Bloomberg. It’s gotten so bad that Popeyes began stockpiling chicken ahead of the release of its new chicken nuggets.

McDonald’s has also faced supply issues with its celebrity collaborations before. The Travis Scott meal was so popular that it resulted in a shortage of quarter pounders, and they had to ration ingredients to make sure restaurants each had adequate supply. McDonald’s is probably prepared to handle a McNugget shortage, but where it could be affected is prices. McDonald’s has not said how much the Saweetie meal will cost, only that prices will “vary by location.” It wouldn’t be out of the question for McNuggets to be more expensive. At least until these chicken sandwich wars die down.

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