{"id":19001,"date":"2020-08-28T10:00:16","date_gmt":"2020-08-28T17:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000014065"},"modified":"2020-08-28T10:38:13","modified_gmt":"2020-08-28T17:38:13","slug":"addison-coronavirus-distribution-product-restaurants-shortage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/addison-coronavirus-distribution-product-restaurants-shortage","title":{"rendered":"Distributor layoffs, delivery cuts have left restaurants often empty-shelved"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before a fire forced them to find a new space<\/a>, the kitchen at Bebot on Fourth Street was booming. Creating hundreds of meals every week for the Filipino community, Chefs AC Boral and Janice Dig Cabaysa believed that maybe\u2014just maybe\u2014they had figured out how to work within the confines of COVID-19’s massive restrictions.<\/span><\/p>\n

And then there was no rice, as in they literally could not find rice, be it from a distributor or a grocery store or an auntie’s secret cabinet.<\/p>\n

“Every time we ordered, it was nowhere to be found,” Cabaysa said. “We tried ordering through our vendors and they were completely on backorder. When searching at the Asian markets\u2014Island Pacific, Ranch 99, even the bodegas and markets owned by Cambodian families\u2014all the pallets of rice were gone. Just empty pallets.”<\/p>\n

Bebot’s story is not unique.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t fault any of our suppliers, they\u2019re dealing with it just like we are,\u201d said Bobby Hernandez, owner of Recreational Coffee in Downtown Long Beach.\u00a0\u201cBut we definitely have issues with the delivery of ingredients because of a staffing shortage from just about all of our suppliers. All our suppliers are short on employees since COVID-19 hit and have moved their deliveries from two times a week to just once a week, which creates issues for us because of our lack of ability to hold a week\u2019s worth of groceries in our fridges due to a lack of space. It\u2019s definitely the trickle-down effect that stems from employment issues from the supply chain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Coronavirus\"<\/a>
A woman wears a mask as she shops at a farmers marke in Downtowntown Long Beach Friday, March 20, 2020. Some people are taking any precautions because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The result is Hernandez having to send staff on random grocery trips because available product is in continual flux, and that adversely affects consistency because sometimes business owners can’t find the particular product they need until another, sometimes delayed, delivery comes.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We’re having to reinvent products weekly based on the availability,” Hernandez said. “Tasting certain milks to make sure they’re comparable. Breads that are comparable to our normal brioche we use. Just one of the many strains this year from COVID-19.”<\/p>\n

Chef Philip Pretty of the recently opened Heritage<\/a> goes early to farmers markets for produce these days because farmers are showing up with less product all the time. If he gets their too late, it may mean he has nothing to cook that evening.<\/p>\n

Ryan Hughes of The 4th Horseman had to run to Whole Foods to buy quinoa flour for their gluten-free crust because a vendor was entirely out.<\/p>\n

“Most of the companies furloughed a lot of their employees,\u201d said George Mlouk, owner of Nico’s in Naples. \u201cThe huge distributors like Southern Wine and Spirits or Young\u2019s Market, those purveyors we work with either minimized their delivery dates to two or three days or furloughed their entire workforce. And some distributors like Ingardia haven’t received any loans<\/a> to help them out. It\u2019s been a nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ingardia Bros., based out of Santa Ana, is one of the region’s go-to produce distributors. Courtesy of India Clamp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And it’s not just ingredients: to-go containers, disposable utensils, cleaning supplies…<\/p>\n

“Battling state mandates, supply chain breakdowns and skyrocketing prices for things like protein,” said Luis Navarro of the Navarro Hospitality Group. “It’s a recipe for disaster for the entire restaurant industry.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The purveyors we work with either minimized their delivery dates to two or three days or furloughed their entire workforce.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"featured_media":71221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","pmpro_default_level":0,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","footnotes":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[17831],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[2691],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19001"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19001"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=19001"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=19001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}