Champagne shortage threatens New Year’s Eve celebrations as revelers are forced to find new bubbly to toast at midnight
REVELERS are scrambling to find new bubbly as a champagne shortage threatens New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Vineyards have felt the effects of the global supply chain crisis such as backlogs at ports and driver shortages.
The US is currently in the early stages of a champagne shortage that’s feared to last several years, according to the Wine Enthusiast magazine.
Importers have reportedly been left scrambling what to order months in advance as delivery of products to the US can take up to three times as long.
Alison Napjus, the senior editor of Wine Spectator, told Fox Business: “It’s not even just that basic transportation issue. We’re also looking at things like shortages of the cage that goes on top of your bottle, labels, boxes to put wine in.
“So you put that all together with the huge increase in demand we’ve seen for champagne this year [and] for other sparkling wines and of course, the holiday season, and it could be tough to find some of your favorite labels this year.”
Michael Bilello, senior vice president of communications and marketing of Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America, warned about an increase in costs.
He told Fox Business: “As the cost of business and challenges of doing business impact the wine and spirits industry, consumers are going to see that on the shelves or their bars and restaurants.”
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Demand for wine has reportedly increased as Americans stayed home during the pandemic and the industry has also been hit with severe drought, affecting production at times.
Supply chain bottlenecks have driven up costs, leading to high inflation.
Last month, consumer prices in the US shot up by 6.8 percent from 12 months earlier – the biggest year-over-year increase since 1982.
Mario Bodden, a project manager at a shopping mall, said it cost $50 to fill up, instead of $35, when refueling his vehicle at a Mobil station in Yonkers, New York.
He told the Associated Press: “You start thinking: Do I go shopping? Do I fill it up today?”
Earlier this month, Kraft – the makers of Philadelphia cream cheese – warned that demand for the product saw a rise during the pandemic and production isn’t able to keep up.
Basak Oguz, the Philadelphia brand marketing director, the company has put a pause on certain items in order to meet the demand of their more popular products, like cream cheese.
With the increase of home baking and eating throughout the pandemic, the demand for cream cheese rose 18 percent since 2019, according to Kraft.
SUPPLY CHAIN CRISIS
Restaurants are also reportedly ordering more cream cheese than in previous years.
Bagel shops in New York City reported issues regarding the shortage.
Americans took to social media to complain that they couldn’t find packets of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos on the shelves.
Fans feared that the chips were being discontinued.
It’s reported that several of the company’s internal plants were operating at less than full output, and more skilled machine operators were needed.
Shortages of packaging materials, seasoning, oil, and starches were also said to be making production challenging
In October, Frito-Lay said it planned to hire 15,000 employees to deal with the growing demand.
The company said it was continuing to make investments across its business, including funding new manufacturing lines and warehouse expansion.
