Supply chain problems are reaching a far corner of the business world: ketchup packages.
After enduring a year of closures, employee safety fears and start-stop openings, American restaurants are now facing a national shortage of ketchup. Restaurants are trying to secure the staple on the table after Covid-19 overturned the world order of spices. Managers use generic versions, pouring bulk ketchup into individual cups and hitting the Costco aisles for replacements.
“We hunted high and low,” said Chris Fuselier, owner of Blake Street Tavern in Denver, which has struggled to maintain ketchup for much of this year.
The pandemic has transformed many relaxation restaurants into dining specialists, making individual ketchup packages the main currency of spices for both national chains and mom-and-pop restaurants. Package prices have risen 13% since January 2020, and their market share has exploded to the detriment of table bottles, according to the restaurant-business platform Plate IQ.
Even fast food giants are advocating for packages. Long John Silver’s LLC, a chain of nearly 700 units, had to seek ketchup from secondary suppliers due to accelerating demand. The pandemic shift of the package industry has led to higher prices, which cost the Louisville, Ky. Company half a million dollars more, executives said, as the single service is more expensive than volume.