Posted on 04/06/2021 9:46:54 AM PDT by mylife
Supply chain problems are reaching into a far corner of the business universe: Ketchup packets.
After enduring a year of closures, employee safety fears and start-stop openings, many American restaurants are now facing a nationwide ketchup shortage. Restaurants are trying to secure the tabletop staple after Covid-19 upended the condiment world order. Managers are using generic versions, pouring out bulk ketchup into individual cups and hitting the aisles of Costco for substitutes.
“We’ve been hunting high and low,” said Chris Fuselier, owner of Denver-based Blake Street Tavern, who has struggled to keep ketchup in stock for much of this year.
The pandemic turned many sit-down restaurants into takeout specialists, making individual ketchup packets the primary condiment currency for both national chains and mom-and-pop restaurants. Packet prices are up 13% since January 2020, and their market share has exploded at the expense of tabletop bottles, according to restaurant-business platform Plate IQ.
Even fast-food giants are pleading for packets. Long John Silver’s LLC, a nearly 700-unit chain, had to seek ketchup from secondary suppliers because of the rush in demand. The industry’s pandemic shift to packets has pushed up prices, costing the Louisville, Ky.-based company an extra half-million dollars, executives said, since single-serve is pricier than bulk.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
How can adults eat ketchup?
Ah, a punster eh?
Ive noticed that places such as Denny’s, used to have bottles.of ketchup and salt and pepper shakers on the tables. They took those away as a response to the pandemic. The story about ketchup here should also apply to salt and pepper and mustard.
“Preps” baby - keeping a steadily-rotated stock of condiments. And lots of hot sauce.
Raise your culinary IQ and use Steak Sauce or some other better condiment:-)
Just buy your own. Those little packets are good for much anyhow and they are a ticking timebomb if you keep them in a drawer until they burst/leak.
HEB sells that too.
and its Gooooood...
Hundreds of Heinz and Weis generic ketchup bottles at Weis Markets, here in York. No shortage of “Navy Gravy”.
Use Sriracha sauce instead. Much more adult flavor than kiddie ketchup.
a bottle last me for years in the fridge.
I use both.
For me, it depends how many fries and other potatoes I eat. I can blow thru 2-3 bottles/ year, eating FIVE GUYS burgers and fries.
I have 6 bottles of ketchup and 7 bottles of mustard downstairs in my “preps”. 17 5-level shelves of assorted foods, condiments, soups etc. Enough for 2 people for a year.
Five Guys is delicious....and priced accordingly. Picked up dinner for four there a couple weeks ago and the bill was over $55...for burgers and fries. Yikes.
I use my mouth. Seriously, though, I like it, and so I eat it, with Hunt's as my favorite.
Whenever I ask the clerk at a fast food restaurant for ketchup, he/she almost invariably gives me a huge handful when I only need 2 or 3 packets.
If they rationed them better maybe they wouldn’t have a shortage.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.