Red alert in America for sachet ketchup shortage

Will Americans have to bring themselves to eat their fries and burgers without ketchup?

Manufacturers are struggling to keep up with the strong demand for individual pouches, while restaurants, in response to the pandemic, have adopted delivery and take-out overwhelmingly.

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The Heinz group, whose iconic ketchup remains by far the best-selling, observed a

Steve Cornell, chairman, told AFP. of the unit in charge of these questions for the Kraft Heinz group, confirming information from the

.

These small individual bags, provided during deliveries, have in fact, over the past year, largely replaced the usual glass or plastic bottles placed on the tables, even for room service where they are shunned by customers who balk at them. to touch.

“Demand greater than supply”

The ketchup giant has thus made adjustments in its production, to favor these products in great demand to the detriment of others.

But even so,

the group told AFP in an email.

To cope with this, Kraft Heinz points out that it has added several production lines in its factories, which should allow production to increase by 25%, to reach 12 billion of these sachets per year.

He also developed a bottle for serving without contact.

And prices have risen 13% since January 2020, according to information from the

, citing business services platform Plate IQ.

In the meantime, restaurateurs must find ways to avoid the sacrilege of having to serve their fries without ketchup.

, worries a restaurant owner from Denver (Colorado), quoted by the

, and explaining having had to buy a brand of ketchup first price, and apologize to customers.