Restaurants and food chains around the U.S have struggled with shortages in food over the recent months.
The food industry is a high demand market, and requires large shipments of product to be at a specific location by a deadline. If not met, it can cause issues within restaurants and other small food businesses.
One of the largest reasons for this shortage is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a lockdown worldwide, and slowed production of many valuable items. With the world returning to somewhat of a “new normal,” these items are back in high demand, though production of the goods is still slowed.
“The restaurant I work at has had food shortages over the past few months, and it has been frustrating to lack the proper resources to keep the business running,” said Erin Heileger, a junior.
The lack of food and shipments has caused restaurants to seek out replacement items. Separate shopping outside of work at a grocery store is one of the most common ways to help cope with this shortage, however it is costing more money when items aren’t being bought in bulk.
“I have had to run to the store multiple times during work to go purchase food items that we were in need of,” said Tyson Deters, a food expeditor at All American Modern Sports Grill.
Things such as condiments, vegetables, and ice cream are among the many different items that employees are sent out to purchase for the restaurant. The problem has no real end in sight, but, with time, production rates should resume to a regular pace.
Many restaurants have increased pricing on items with low inventory to help make up for the lost cost. Pricing is skyrocketing as shipments continue to take longer than expected to arrive and business continues to strive.
As more people get vaccinated and restrictions are lessened, people are returning to their old habits of going out to eat, which is causing food to decrease in inventory quickly.
“I typically eat out with my parents as often as I can on the weekends,” said Jayden Bahora, a senior.
Restaurants count on specific food items to be delivered, and when there is a different number of those items than expected, it can cause mayhem within the establishment.
It is unsure when this problem will truly be resolved, but in the meantime, employees and restaurants have learned ways to cope with this issue and plan to continue to do so until the food is no longer in a shortage.