Have you ever thought that the ketchup storage may reach zero point? What would you do if you are a ketchup-aholic? Will you panic or will you just turn to mayonnaise or mustard? If you are an American citizen and you love ketchup then this story will find you well.
American restaurants are running out of ketchup storage; people who can’t live without it are freaking out and the one to blame is the COVID-19 pandemic.
The New Shortage: Ketchup Can’t Catch Up
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) April 5, 2021
The pandemic turned restaurants into takeout specialists, boosting demand for the condiment; ‘Everyone out there is grabbing for ketchup’ https://t.co/WIO8Deln0S
Kraft Heinz, the company which makes most of the ketchup in the US, revealed that it faced issues after the dramatic swings in demand after the Coronavirus crisis; as restaurant were called to close for several months to curb the virus spread and people were told to stay in their houses, according to The Wall Street Journal report.
The Journal also reported that due to COVID-19 many sit-down restaurants became takeout specialists, making individual ketchup packets the primary condiment currency for everyone.
Finally, a national crisis that doesn’t affect me, my work, or home at all. Y’all can have all the ketchup, I’m good. https://t.co/qKye8Dgv40
— Ashby Frank (@ashbyfrank) April 5, 2021
Moreover, packet prices increased 13% since January 2020, and their market share has exploded at the expense of tabletop bottles, according to restaurant-business platform Plate IQ.
Of course the ketchup crisis has not only taken a serious side, but also social media users have come up with many jokes saying that after all the crisis in the COVID era this is a non-important issue compared to the number of people who lost their jobs or the losses of the businesses due to the closures.
ساعدوا الأمريكان مثل ما ساعدوكم بتوفر اللقاح.#البحرين https://t.co/RWSdZNpdtd
— شارب الخمر (@sharbalkhamr) April 6, 2021
Translation: “Help the Americans like they helped us with the vaccine.”
أزمتهم كيوت https://t.co/r43zzge36k
— A B D U L L A H (@lovkuwait1) April 5, 2021
Translation: “Their crises are cute.”
Nevertheless, a representative announced Heinz will raise its effort to make sure the ketchup doesn’t finish; as it is planning to increase production by 25% this month so that it is churning out packets at a rate of more than 12 billion a year.
American fast-food giants are now searching in rocks for ketchup packets. Long John Silver’s LLC, which is a Fast food restaurant company specializing in seafood, is looking for other secondary suppliers due to high demand and low storage.
