The humble spud grown in Mid and South Canterbury supply McCain’s in Timaru who turn them into fries served at McDonald’s Restaurants.

Among those growers is Hewson farm at Pendarves.

Farm owner Ross Hewson said it was good companies like McDonald’s sourced ingredients locally rather than importing them.

Hewson’s have been farming in the mid-south Canterbury area for over 100 years.

They produce 20,000 tonne of potatoes exclusively for McCain’s fries, which they have done for about 28 years .

"McDonald’s have high standards for the potatoes they use for their fries, they are fussy about the quality of potatoes used,” Hewson said.

"By sourcing ingredients locally McDonald’s are helping the economy, jobs which is so important for the community. 

McDonald’s said in a statement that the ingredients they sourced from around New Zealand were used in New Zealand restaurants as well as supplied to McDonald’s around the world.

Around 90 per cent of the ingredients used by McDonald’s New Zealand are sourced locally, with Kiwi-produced beef, chicken and cheese also supplied to McDonald’s markets overseas.

Planting of the potatoes is under way for harvesting between February and April next year.

"The growing of potatoes is labour intensive,” Hewson said.

McDonald’s last month released its annual shopping list for last year.

They used more than 6.5 million litres of milk from dairy farmers across Aotearoa through Fonterra, over 17 million kilograms of potato products from Canterbury. 

The Wairua Valley, Auckland produces over 103 million buns, muffins and bagels for the company.  

Almost 10.5 million free-range eggs from Otaika Valley and Zeagold Farms along with 816 tonnes of cheese and other dairy products produced by Fonterra for local McDonald’s restaurants. 

And from farms throughout New Zealand 6415 tonnes of beef and 401 tonnes of Angus beef is produced for Macca’s 100 per cent beef patties, 2656 tonnes of chicken products supplied through Ingham’s, 841 tonnes of lettuce grown in the Bombay area of Franklin and 156 tonnes of tomatoes grown in Pukekohe.

New Zealand ingredients supplied to McDonald’s markets overseas included: 28,194 tonnes of beef, 80.9 tonnes of chicken products and 419,081 kilograms of cheese

New Zealand-produced ingredients supplied to overseas markets were valued at $324 million, compared with $287 million the previous year.

McDonald’s New Zealand head of impact and communications Simon Kenny said people might assume a global brand like McDonald’s relied heavily on imported ingredients, but in New Zealand the opposite was true. 
“That local supply underpins the meals we serve to more than 1.5 million customers each week, while New Zealand-produced ingredients are also enjoyed by McDonald’s customers around the world.”
In value terms, McDonald’s spent more than $256 million with New Zealand suppliers for its local restaurants in 2025, compared with $235 million in 2024, Kenny said.
The Golden Arches are celebrating their golden anniversary this year, with the first McDonald’s open in Porirua in 1976.

Eighty five per cent of the more than 170 McDonald’s in New Zealand are owner-operated by locals.  

The organisation is a large employer with over 11,000 employees and one of the country’s largest employers of young people.