Rising prices in almost every category of life have been a source of pain and frustration for most people in recent months, but for people who produce and ship food across the province, it has been devastating.
Roxanne Weinheber used to be concerned about small increases once or twice a year in commodities like sugar and flour. But now the owner of Chatman’s Bakery in the Newfoundland community of Charlottetown is facing daily ups and downs.
“A few years ago, if you saw a four percent increase on your desktop, you’d say, ‘My God, four percent.’ Now four percent is a joke,” he said. “It’s daily. It’s astronomical and amazing.”
For those who buy flour in large quantities, the price increase of recent months has been difficult to absorb. (CBC)
Chatman’s Bakery makes cookies and other bakery products from scratch with family recipes. Buy flour in bulk, which has gone from about $ 20 a bag to about $ 26.50. A packet of eggs in bulk has nearly doubled, from $ 39 in December to $ 71.50 in recent weeks. Plastic cookie containers went from their usual 50 cents each to $ 1.06.
Then there is the cost of shipping. Chatman is sold to retailers throughout the province and as far as Ontario. Even before the cost of goods ran out, Weinheber said he was at a disadvantage only by geography. Sending goods from an island has always been expensive, but it is becoming unrealistic as fuel prices rise.
“Competing outside the province is a struggle,” he said. “Being on an island, transporting goods up and down takes us out of the stadium. Now with these increases, it’s so hard to even compete.”
The cost of everything related to bakery products, from flour and sugar to plastic trays, is rising. (CBC)
The cost of fuel is also wreaking havoc on its workers. Chatman’s Bakery struggled to find enough workers during the pandemic and turned to Canada’s foreign workers program to stay afloat. However, the three workers brought from abroad were immediately compensated by three employees who could no longer afford to travel to Charlottetown.
“We’ve actually lost staff who were full-time staff, who just can’t afford to drive back and forth, so they took on seasonal jobs in their own community. The impact is sad. It’s sad. “.
Weinheber said most people would not connect global issues, such as world oil production or the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the price of bread in rural Newfoundland, but all this takes into account.
Rural businesses feel hurt
At the tip of the Northern Newfoundland Peninsula, Dark Tickle Company is also wondering how it will make a profit with its products this year. In fact, owner Kier Knudsen is quite certain that the company founded by his grandfather in 1919 will reach profitability at best.
“The price of everything has been inflated,” he said. “From the price of sugar to the price of bottles and jars, we put our jam in it.”
The cost of the boats has risen 50 percent in two months, Knudsen said. Sugar used to cost about $ 24 per pound, but has now gone up by more than $ 30.
The Dark Tickle Company sends its ice cream from the northern peninsula to St. John’s every year. These trips will cost a lot more this summer. (Submitted by Kier Knudsen)
Diesel, however, is the main killer. Being a rural business, they have to transport all their inputs north before re-shipping the finished products to the south. The company also has a truck to transport its ice cream to San Juan. A trip used to cost about $ 1,600 round trip. It will now cost almost $ 3,000.
“I don’t even know how we’re going to get it, to be honest with you.”
There are advantages to being a former family business, Knudsen said. They should not balance these increases with a mortgage or any upfront cost as they should in a new business.
“That’s why I’m sorry. We have young couples who are putting all their savings into a small business … It must be a nightmare.”
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