C A L I F O R N I A
Vegetables A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ®
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Restaurant operators say they have counted on produce farmers and shippers to help them adjust to new business realities during the pan- demic, including the transition to meals prepared to go for pickup or delivery.
Produce supply chain reacts to food-service changes
ByBob Johnson Restaurant ownerswho saw their businesses plummet and farmerswho lost essential outlets for their highly perishable produce have deepened their ties during the pan- demic, according to speakers at a recent conference. As food-service operators faced great uncertainty about the volume of their busi- nesses and reliability of the produce supply chain, operators said they came to count on farmers and shippers to help them adjust on the fly. “I can’t think of any timewe’vehad to leanonour partners asmuchas duringCOVID,” saidAnissaMandell Chance, supply chain vice president for Focus Brands. “We’ve had to be flexible.” Focus Brands operates more than 6,000 restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries and ice cream shops under numerous names. Chancemade her remarks as food-service operators discussed their closer ties with produce grower-shippers during the Produce Marketing Association Food Service Delivered webcast in July. The organization moved its traditional summer event in Monterey to the internet because of the pandemic. While therehas beena significant shift toward sellingproduce through supermarkets,
as people increasingly eat at home during the pandemic, speakers said food service remains an important if unpredictable outlet. “Our business will never be the same,” Chance said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this willingness to work together. A lot of inventory was lost at every level of the supply chain, and we’ve had to consolidate SKUs”—stock-keeping units for menu offerings. Other food-service operators at the conference mentioned they, too, consolidated offerings in response toCOVID, which leaves them looking for fewer butmore versatile produce items. “We scaled back on ourmenu and cut back on the slowmovers,” said Lisa Kartzman, supply chain vice president for Shake Shack. “We’ve had very good supplier relation- ships, and we’ve gotten even closer. We’ve learned more about their issues with raw materials and transportation.” Much of the uncertainty in food service has occurred because restaurants are doing a significant amount of their business through previously unfamiliar outlets. “We worked to be more resilient by focusing on our to-go business,” said Hari Nagabhirava, supply chain vice president for the Cheesecake Factory. “Everybody is
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August 19, 2020 Ag Alert 11
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