Why grocery shelves won't be empty for long

Why grocery shelves won't be empty for long Getty Images While the sight of empty supermarket shelves may lead shoppers to fear food shortages, experts in the food supply chain say the system is built to endure. “This one’s a little different because it’s prolonged and it’s everywhere… when a hurricane is approaching the country, consumer behaviour is exactly the same,” says Fred Boehler, CEO of US-based supply chain firm Americold Logistics. Behaviour patterns may be the same, but when food demand is amplified to unprecedented scale across entire nations, many factories must shift to “full capacity” – a state of maximum production rate typically saved for emergency situations like this pandemic. “Grocery stores have remained open and food is available.” Stockpiled high Garza-Reyes says he expects the greater ‘empty shelves phenomenon’ to be temporary not only thanks to supermarkets making their flexibility count when adapting to demand, but because “there will be a point where customers have enough products like pasta in their storerooms that no more stockpiling will be needed.” When that point is reached, and efforts within food supply chains and grocers align to catch up with shoppers’ demands under the Covid-19 outbreak, will there emerge a ‘new normal’ in the way the food system is organised?