Cost-conscious young people have bought out all the French fries at McDonald's.
This summer, McDonald's launched from the 9.9-yuan "Fries Duet" all the way to the "Fries Octet".
"Devotees of the McDonald's Sect" continued the carnival, creating 12-piece sets, 32-piece sets, 1024-piece sets, up to a 2.7×10⁴³-piece set, which is roughly equivalent to the mass of an entire Milky Way.
With an annual consumption of 100 billion servings, French fries have long stepped out of the supporting role in Western fast food, and are integrating into various scenarios to become a lifestyle.
French fries may become "another cup of milk tea" in the hands of young people.
#01
The Carnival of the Multi-Set Fries
It all started with McDonald's 9.9-yuan "Fries Duet" set meal.
What was originally just a tentative toss of a small stone unexpectedly triggered a huge wave. The set meal sold extremely well, so McDonald's struck while the iron was hot and launched the "Fries Quartet", which still had plenty of buyers. Then the "Octet" was released, and it was also a big hit.
Figure ｜ McDonald's multi-set French fries
The unit price of a box of French fries was pressed down to the price of a single fried bread stick, but the portion was as grand as a whole table of dishes.
The favorable price made netizens break through the traditional scenarios for French fries. Some posted suggestions that people no longer eat popcorn when watching movies, but eat French fries instead, because "the money you usually spend on a bucket of popcorn can buy an octet of fries."
Some even brought French fries into financial scenarios, saying, "Gold bars are not recommended for investment at high prices, silver bars are not recommended for investment at high prices, but French fries are priced just right."
McDonald's stopped at the "Octet". Young people did not.
Competing for who can finish eating the most "multi-set" fries became a game. Posts showing off 12-piece sets went viral on Xiaohongshu, often getting thousands of likes. Some people directly posted a "full family photo of fries" with 56 sets, and thousands of comments poured into the comment section instantly, pushing the post to the platform's hot list.
The most exaggerated one is the "2.7×10⁴³-piece set" poster, which is roughly equivalent to the mass of the Milky Way, boasting of cosmic-level deliciousness and interstellar-level satisfaction.
Everything can be analogized to French fries. Some people use French fries to explain the CP fandom culture: "The official couple is ketchup, the popular CP is sweet and sour sauce, the niche CP is McFlurry, the all-party who dips everything is the one who supports all couples, and the anti-fan who dislikes everything is the lone extremist."
Some even compared French fries to cigarettes of similar shapes, saying, "Sometimes French fries are really decompressing, they can calm the worries in your heart, more effective than premium cigarettes."
This carnival about French fries evolved from a simple promotion into a collective meme participated by the whole network. Everyone found their own position in this multi-part performance.
Many netizens joked that McDonald's discovered that humans are actually seagulls, and customers discovered that McDonald's is actually a pier. The classic meme from Canadian cartoonist Joshua Barkman "Go to the pier to get some fries" found a new real footnote in the summer of 2026.
Under a popular Xiaohongshu post showing off a "12-piece set" of fries, a netizen's comment was pushed to the top: "This is the real Internet, everyone can share their lives, including seagulls."
Figure ｜ Get some fries
#02
Why Do French Fries Resonate With Young People?
McDonald's has held the "Big Fries Day" for 12 years. This multi-set fries campaign is also part of McDonald's "play" strategy.
Last December, McDonald's launched the cost-effective "19.9-yuan Fries Trio" set, completing the market test for multi-set fries. The carnival in July was also actively ignited by McDonald's.
At the end of June, McDonald's officially announced Wang Leehom and Wang Sulong as the spokespersons for the 23rd anniversary of the "I'm Lovin' It" brand, with the first theme being "I'm Lovin' It Fries", and they co-created a theme song of the same name. McDonald's launched multi-set fries, various peripheral products, subway check-in points, and renovated 100 themed stores.
In terms of timing, from the end of June to mid-July is the knockout stage of the World Cup, the second Friday of July is World French Fries Day, and July 23 is Major Heat, which has many nodes for communication and viral marketing.
Burger King and KFC also carried out French fries marketing in this period.
Burger King collaborated with Heinz to launch a "one-jin large portion of fries" set in July. KFC also launched the "First KFC Potato Festival", launching a variety of potato-themed products and buy-one-get-one-free offers, and limitedly launched XXXXXL-sized fries on the day of Major Heat.
McDonald's and its peers threw out a creative idea, and the devotees of the McDonald's Sect took over the baton of creation. The reason is not complicated.
In an era when young people are more cautious about consumption, French fries provide a certainty of "spending a small amount of money to get happiness". It not only has extreme cost performance, but also provides sufficient emotional value.
There is no need to compare prices, no need to pile up orders for discounts, no need to worry about overpaying, and the purchase decision cost is almost zero. The classic taste of Western fast food also reduces the risk of disappointment, so you can buy it without hesitation.
Potatoes themselves have a perfect ratio of water to starch, and the combination of sugar, oil and salt in flavored fries, plus novel shapes, addictive taste, and memorable sauce colors, can all stimulate experiences with high emotional value.
Not to mention, now you can join the meme-making carnival on social media with zero threshold, and the whole scene is extremely rich and decompressing.
In fact, French fries have long been deeply integrated into daily life, and young people no longer regard them as a supporting role of a fast food meal.
French fries are not picky about occasions and require no rituals. They are present at dinners, team building, afternoon tea, bars, murder mystery games, and even hot pot meals. The popularity of household air fryers and frozen potato products has made eating French fries possible anytime, anywhere.
Perhaps in the future, the number of young people holding French fries on the street will be as large as those holding milk tea.
#03
The Industry Behind 100 Billion Servings of French Fries
China's annual demand for French fries exceeds 547,600 tons. Calculated based on the weight of an average French fry being about 5 grams, Chinese people consume as many as 100 billion servings of French fries a year.
But obviously, the French fries business has only just begun.
In recent years, a number of French fry specialty stores are rising. Potato Corner, which originated in the Philippines, is the benchmark brand. After officially entering the Chinese market in 2022, it expanded rapidly, and up to now, there are 130 operating stores in China. Fried snack brands have also taken French fries as an important part of their product lines.
Product innovations are even more dazzling. In terms of shapes, in addition to the traditional straight strips, there are curly fries, waffle fries, and V-cut fries; in terms of flavors, Chinese-style flavors such as lychee kung pao and spicy hot pot have emerged one after another, and Western-style flavors such as cheese onion and honey mustard are also very popular.
Behind all this is the impetus from the supply chain.
China is a major potato planting country. For every four tons of potatoes produced in the world, one ton comes from China. But for a long time, China was also a major importer of frozen French fries. From the 2015/16 season to the 2019/20 season, China imported an average of 140,000 tons of frozen French fries every year.
However, with the gradual increase in domestic production capacity, the price of domestic frozen French fries has been pushed down below 100 yuan. The COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and natural disasters disrupted the global frozen French fries supply chain, giving Chinese players opportunities for overseas expansion. In 2022, China became a net exporter of frozen French fries for the first time, and its market share expanded steadily.
Ulanqab, a city in central Inner Mongolia with a permanent population of about 1.6 million, is the backbone of China's French fries industry. As the "Potato Capital of China", Ulanqab has sufficient sunshine and a large temperature difference between day and night. The potatoes grown here have high starch content and low sugar content, making them high-quality raw materials for frying French fries.
Lamb Weston, the world's leading supplier of frozen potato products, has set up both of its Chinese factories here, and domestic French fries giant Kaida Hengye has also built a processing industrial park on this land.
Of course, some leftover parts of French fries are not wasted. Expired or leftover French fries from food factories are recycled by feed wholesalers and sent to farms around the country.
Figure ｜ Oil-fried French fries for pigs
In short videos, pigs are feasting on piles of French fries, with the caption "Feed pigs with oil-fried French fries, which makes them gain weight fast at low cost".
According to feed wholesalers, oil-fried French fries "have high starch content, high oil content, high cost performance, can replace corn, and have obvious effects on fattening livestock".
This article is from the WeChat official account "True Story Lab", author: LI Yaqi, editor: XIAO Derui, published with authorization from 36Kr.