With some health experts warning that the United States could see another widespread outbreak of the coronavirus and new restrictions this fall and winter as the holidays approach, grocery stores and food companies are preparing for a possible surge in sales, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Vowing they won’t be unprepared if another virus surge occurs, food companies are accelerating production of their most popular items and supermarkets are stockpiling groceries early.
In addition to other techniques to prepare for a possible pandemic surge, many retailers are expanding distribution capacity, increasing warehouse space, and modifying shifts.
Many are comparing the readiness now to the unpreparedness that existed when coronavirus cases suddenly increased in March, with Chris Lewis, executive vice president of supply chain at Ahold Delhaize’s Retail Business Services, saying, “we didn’t know what we didn’t know.”
However, despite these current plans, most acknowledge that customers are also better prepared, and a crisis will most likely not be as extreme as it was in March, when a panicked public stocked up on items out of fear that grocery stores would close or that there would be food shortages.
Nevertheless, manufacturers are still trying to keep up with continued high demand for some products, such as cleaning wipes and canned vegetables, and some are worried that they will lose significant production capacity if infections break out among their workers or if, for example, people are not able to come to work due to problems with child care.
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