We’re still in a pandemic, and supply chain disruptions continue. Restaurants may reopen soon, but diners may be eating ketchup-less french fries.
“After enduring a year of closures, employee safety fears and start-stop openings, many American restaurants are now facing a nationwide ketchup shortage,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, April 5, 2021 (in a story here, partially blocked by paywall.)
“The ketchup supply chain, which includes the movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory and finished goods, is one of many that has been disturbed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has caused production delays and backlogs in shipping,” The Hill explained in a story here.
The problem isn’t collapsing ketchup demand due to restaurant closures, but a drastic change in how the stuff is consumed. Where diners used to pour it from bottles at tables, the change to takeout-only dining has shifted that consumption to single-serve packets, which are in short supply.
The Heinz company has pledged to increase production to 12 billion packets a year. That’s a lot of empty foil packets going into trash bins and landfills.
Bring your own?