No kidding.
With the lockdowns and all, restaurants are going out of business and we’re expected to believe there’s a ketchup shortage?
Betcha there’s none to be had in the grocery stores either right now.
About 25-30 years ago, ketchup was dethroned as the number one condiment. It was replaced by salsa.
I wouldn’t be surprised. Like many things, its probably very uneconomical to run a ketchup factory at half-speed for very long. So if you think governments will keep restaurants shut down for many months, you shut down your factory entirely. That supply then goes to zero.
Maybe ketchup manufacturers are having a tough time getting corn syrup, and other supplies, from ChiComs.
Yeah....hard to believe there’s a shortage when most restaurants are closed...or, have gone out of business.
The article sez it’s a shortage of ketchup in PACKETS. Of course the idiots will all make a run and hoard ketchup in BOTTLES. Does anyone pay attention anymore?
I can understand a shortage of packets, and even a matching mild glut of bottles. With all the covid nonesense restaurants and workplace cafeterias that remain open are no-longer providing bottles of ketchup (pre-packaged or squeeze bottles refilled in bulk there) for customers to use to adorn their meals. That might mean multiple customers touch the same bottle - the horror! So they are only providing condiments in packets.
Add to that many places still emphasize to-go / carry-out and people think "yeah, I should grab some condiments, better grab a couple extra, I don't want to run short during my meal..." and packet use of condiments is no-doubt significantly higher while bottled/bulk use is lower.