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– In the grand scheme of a pandemic, it’s not that bad. Yet the Wall Street Journal reported an unexpected hiccup associated with COVID – a shortage of tomato sauce. The biggest problem is that restaurants are scrambling to find supplies, especially ketchup packets that are safer than shared bottles. “Everyone out there grabs ketchup,” says Long John Silver’s chief marketing officer Magazine. The chain estimates that he spent $ 500,000 extra on late-season ketchup because the one-time packages are more expensive than buying in bulk. Heinz, which controls about 70% of the U.S. tomato sauce market, is “doing everything we can,” says CEO Steve Cornell. This includes extra shifts at production plants.
The story notes that ketchup sales increased by 15% in 2020, probably because more people cooked at home. A report on Mashed asks why Heinz still appears to be in turmoil when reports appeared months ago, including this one on CNN, that sales were strong. In fact, Heinz can pay a price: the Texas Roadhouse chain served Heinz exclusively before the pandemic, but it was forced to supplement with easier-to-find brands from wholesalers like Costco. “You can not be loyal forever,” said a company spokesman. One chef in the Magazine The story sees a possible silver lining for all of this: the shortage may encourage people to give up. “We love that people experience the burgers in their natural state,” says Mike DeCamp, who has five eateries in the Minneapolis area. (Read more tomato soup.)