Clamour for chips from Olympic workers forces Locog to backtrack on McDonald's sponsorship deal

Caterers serving staff working on the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies will now be able to offer chips on their own, following a relaxation of a sponsorship deal with fast food giant McDonald's.

As part of the deal McDonald's was the only caterer that had the right to serve chips on their own within the Olympic venues.

This led to another caterer putting up a notice to workers to explain why people couldn't buy their beloved chips in individual portions.

The notice read: "Due to sponsorship obligations with McDonald's, Locog have instructed the catering team that they are no longer able to serve chips on their own anywhere within the Olympic Park.

"The only loophole to this is if it is served with fish.

"Please understand that this is not the decision of the staff who are serving up your meals, who given the choice would gladly give it to you, however they are not allowed to.

"This is being escalated through to the directors of L2012C, LOCOG and the IOC."

Although the restriction on the serving of chips on their own had been in place for some time, it yesterday received greater attention after an image of the notice was Tweeted by Telegraph journalist Tom Chivers (@TomChivers) who questioned whether the move was "the saddest, weirdest, most venal and repellent London 2012 ‘sponsorship obligation' yet?".

Shortly after catererandhotelkeeper.com contacted the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) to confirm whether the restrictions and the notice were genuine, a spokesman replied saying: "The issue has now been resolved. Ceremonies workforce can order chips on their own, as well as fish and chips together."

However the Guardian reported that the restrictions still remained in place in other areas of the Olympic Park.

By Neil Gerrard

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