Food suppliers rocked by unprecedented demand

 In Business

The demand on food supplies spiked last week as suppliers scrambled to keep up.
Grocery store shelves in some areas were emptied and suppliers tried to assure purchasers that more supply would be coming.
Creemore Foodland owner Sim Spry said he understood the demand on groceries would increase as people prepared to shelter at home but he wasn’t prepared for the oncoming frenzy.
He said he had the day off on Thursday, March 12 when he was informed that there was a big influx of shoppers. By Friday, the store was extremely busy from the moment it opened, and stayed open late to get shoppers through the checkouts. What followed were the busiest shopping days ever, with long lines out the door and people cleaning out shelves of certain items, like toilet paper.
Since then, Foodland has gone above and beyond the Health Canada recommendations to do what they can to make the store safer for shoppers and employees. Cashiers are now working from behind plexiglass partitions, hand-washing, rigorous cleaning and physical distancing measures are in place. A self-sanitization station has been set up for carts, and gloves and sanitizer are coming soon for customers. All food service has been suspended, meaning the deli is closed, and there are no samples being served.
The first hour of the day, from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., has been designated Senior Shopping Hour, for the elderly and anyone who has a compromised immune system, and a community volunteer initiative is allowing those in need to get home delivery of groceries.
Sobey’s has implemented a Hero Pay Program to give additional compensation to its employees. Spry said his team has been amazing from the start, even before the program began.
“The staff all came together,” said Spry. He said not one person has called in sick, they have been working extra shifts and skipping lunches.
He said the whole thing has been overwhelming in many ways, but the community and his staff have been great.
“You don’t often get thanked in this business, you don’t often get called a hero,” said Spry.
Sure, some people from the city were hoarding in the early days but everyone else has been fairly calm and respectful, he said.
“I do want to reassure everyone that the supply chain is in good shape and there is no shortage of food,” said Spry.
He said suppliers are ramping up production on their best selling products and scaling back on others so people may see less variety on the shelves.
“Our apologies for the state of the shelves,” said Spry. “We appreciate everyone’s patience as we try to get everything back in shape.”
Miller’s Dairy was one supplier that felt the increased demand.
“Last week was the craziest demand week ever,” said John Miller. “People have just been hoarding, and I don’t understand how people are going to hoard milk because it has an expiration date.”
Miller’s Dairy supplies milk to about 135 stores. Last week, they had stores calling in to increase orders by 50-100 per cent, which was unrealistic. He said production on the farm side is good but milk producers have to adhere to their quotas, and there is the bottling and distribution to consider.
Miller said the dairy counts on its bottle returns to distribute milk so it is focusing on resupplying stores that are returning bottles.
“We’re struggling with some stores refusing to accept bottles,” he said.
Safety measures are being put in place so the cashiers don’t have to touch the bottles. In some locations, people can deposit their empty bottles in bins located at the front of the store.
“That is bringing a level of comfort to everybody,” said Miller.
He said 95 per cent of their milk is packaged in return bottle, and they only have a small number of bottles to add to the supply. They have placed a large order for more bottles but they won’t receive them for another month.
He expects bottles will start coming back this week as things calm down a little but they are relying on customers to request to their grocer that a system for bottle returns be re-implemented so milk delivery can continue.
“I have huge sympathy for our store owners and staff. They are on the front lines,” said Miller. “I can’t stress this enough, be kind and considerate. We’re all in this together.”

Recent Posts

Leave a Comment

0