Oh yes, the past can hurt.
But, you can either run
from it or, learn from it. -The Lion King
Looking back on years like 2020/2021 doesn’t sound like fun; but, for the sake of learning from it, let’s do it!
2021 was quite a year for all of us in the food business. Some of the issues of the pandemic in 2020, which we all thought would go away when the calendar flipped to 2021, continued throughout the year. Vaccines are now readily available and vaccine passports have made their way to big cities throughout California. Just the other day, the California Department of Public Health has reinstituted indoor mask mandates for public places despite vaccination status. Restaurants and food workers have had to again be flexible and adjust to changing guidelines and regulations.
As we continued to battle the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, there are also many other challenges restaurants and food businesses have had to navigate.
Product Shortages
The supply chain continues to present challenges to operating restaurants. At JD Food, we’ve seen shortages in these key product lines:
- Chicken Wings (check out our blog)
- Prime Cuts Beef
- Value Added Cuts
- Onion Rings
- Some Cooking Oils
- And many pandemic related demand items, such as Condiment packets, Nitrile and Vinyl Gloves, Straws, To-go containers, Clear Plastic Cups, Sanitizing Wipes
Food Distribution Supplier Delivery Cancelations
This year, many food suppliers were hit with labor and delivery challenges. This created huge problems throughout the food industry. Here at JD Food, we had a record number of new customer inquiries. Many restauranteurs, food buyers, and chefs desperately looked for alternate options because other restaurant food suppliers could not deliver their food orders.
Hiring Shortage
Food businesses are continuing to face challenges related to labor. Keeping the workforce healthy, engaged and happy these past couple of years has been quite a task. How have you engaged your team in your food business? Has burnout hit you and your employees?
2021 has shown us, our recovery from the 2020 pandemic and economic challenges will not be solved overnight. As we look at 2022, one thing you can count on is JD Food will continue to be a supplier partner you can trust. What are the biggest problems facing your food business? JD Food builds partnerships one order at a time, so you can stay focused on making your business successful. Get started today!