Supply and workforce shortages are impacting food suppliers on a national scale.
It was announced Tuesday that national food distributor Sysco has had to halt deliveries to a number of restaurants in Kansas due to “labor shortages.” Shortages in both resources and staff have become commonplace over the past 16 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the situation involving Sysco is not an isolated one according to EVCO President David Evans who recently spoke with KVOE News.
Evans says even they are seeing issues when it comes to staffing and supplies although it has yet to significantly affect their distribution schedule at this time.
Evans tells KVOE News that he believes the range of unemployment benefits that are still available due to the pandemic has played somewhat of a role in the lack of available workforce.
With companies like Sysco having to halt a significant amount of deliveries and operations, Evans says many restaurant and business owners have had to reach out to other distributors recently. He says EVCO’s phone began “ringing off the hook” Sunday and has yet to stop.
Evans says EVCO has had to turn away some additional business at this time which is something they would never do under normal circumstances. However; at this time he says the company cannot afford to “overexert itself” or else they could find themselves in a situation similar to other major distributors.
KVOE News has reached out to Sysco for comment and a list of affected businesses in the local community.
