More than a quarter of hospitality businesses report stock shortages

27 August 2021 by
More than a quarter of hospitality businesses report stock shortages

More than a quarter of hospitality businesses have seen stock levels drop below normal as the supply chain crisis continues, new figures show.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports accommodation and foodservice firms are among the worst hit, with 27% facing shortages between 26 July and 8 August.

Some 9% of hospitality businesses said they were unable to get the goods or services needed while 11% had to change suppliers or find alternative solutions to missing products.

Across all industries, 7% of firms reported they were not able to get the materials, goods or services they required from within the UK during the two-week period. This included 5.8% of those in manufacturing, 15% in construction and 10% of companies either in the wholesale and retail trade or dealing in the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles.

Staff shortages across the supply chain have been creating chaos for hospitality and foodservice businesses, with some unable to open kitchens due to a lack of ingredients.

Last week Nando's was forced to close around 50 restaurants and lend 70 of its team members to short-staffed suppliers after a lack of produce meant it was unable to trade. All sites have since reopened but the chicken chain is continuing to share staff with suppliers.

Bottled drinks and milkshakes are currently off the menu in McDonald's restaurants in England, Scotland and Wales and Greggs has said it is seeing ‘temporary interruptions' in the supply of some ingredients.

The problems are being exacerbated by a shortfall of around 70,000 trained HGV drivers, meaning many suppliers are unable to get products to operators on schedule.

Purchasing firms have told The Caterer shortages are expected to last for several months up and that processed chicken and potato products are a particular issue.

Image: Aleksandar Malivuk / Shutterstock

The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking