The shortage of Ketchup hits restaurants across the United States
If you are a person who appreciates the phrase “I put ketchup in my ketchup,” you will be interested – and perhaps a little shocked – to hear about the lack of supply chains that come to the country.
As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, ketchup packs are apparently in short supply right now, and restaurants and fast food chains are hard to come by.
Ketchup has always been a staple of the American people, but as the epidemic has forced many restaurants to improve their takeover game, demand for those usable packages has skyrocketed. And its supply and demand regulations have led to a 13 percent increase in the price of ketchup packets from 2020, according to the newspaper.
Fast food chains have been delivering these discarded packets, but seated restaurants usually place bottles of ketchup on the tables or pour them into a customer’s bowl. With both food models now competing with packages, or sacks, as industry experts call them, the supply chain has expanded to its limits.
Photo: Heinz Ketchup packs work alone.
Heinz Ketchup packs you can serve alone. Jon Elswick / AP
Kraft Heinz is a well-known producer of ketchup, and the company makes up about 70 percent of the US ketchup market, reports The Wall Street Journal. As more people eat at home, sales of ketchup bottles also increased by 15 percent last year, to more than $ 1 billion by 2020.
Due to a shortage of procurement, many restaurants reduce the number of packages they offer customers or use to purchase the types of ketchup products that regular users do not use. Other popular fast food chains such as Long John Silver and Texas Roadhouse have had to reach out to second-party providers with packages.
Steve Cornell, Kraft Heinz president of Enhancers, Specialty and Away from the Home Business Unit, told TODAY Food that the company is working hard to meet the demand for those beloved ketchup packers as the takeout industry continues to explode.
“The unparalleled consumer love of our unique HEINZ product and our long-term partnership with the restaurant industry are two serious responsibilities – which is why we have invested in strategic epidemic production to keep pace with the growing demand for ketchup packs for fast delivery and delivery methods,” he wrote. email.
Cornell also noted that Kraft Heinz has been looking at new packaging options to help emerge with its industry.
“At the same time, we have also developed new cooking and packaging techniques that are focused on the future, as well as more productive growth programs, as we believe there is great potential to grow our products in the food service industry,” he said.
Fans of the 150-year-old ketchup will remember that Kraft Heinz invented a single-serving ketchup tray called Dip & Squeeze in 2011. In November 2020, the brand re-introduced a non-abrasive touchscreen to deliver restaurants in a clean way to allow customers to remove their condiments.
Looking ahead to the future, Cornell said the company is banking on its new production lines, hoping to increase production by 25 percent, which is 12 billion packets of ketchup per year.
Ketchup packets are just the latest famine after the epidemic. It started with everyone going out to buy toilet paper at the beginning of the lock. The shortage of meat quickly increased and local bakers also bought flour and yeast in large quantities.
Surprisingly, refrigerators were also in short supply, like Mason’s jars since people started taking pickling as a hobby. Even pepperoni was not saved, and the price of popular pizza topping began to rise in the summer.
If you can’t find your favorite ketchup packets or bottles, know that making your own is always the way