Australia’s lettuce shortage has taken a bite out of Subway’s ability to deliver items to its menu.
Shortly after fried chicken giant KFC revealed that it would use a “temporary mixture of lettuce and cabbage” to deal with supply chain problems, the sandwich maker has announced that it is following suit.
With a head of lettuce exceeding $ 10 in some Australian locations, the business warned it was struggling to meet demand.
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“Being a fresh food company means suffering the ups and downs of fresh produce,” Subway wrote on its website.
“We are currently facing a shortage of lettuce from our local lettuce growers.
“So in the short term, we’ll be mixing lettuce with cabbage … while there’s more lettuce on the way.”
Subway has been sought to comment on how lettuce shortages will directly affect Western Aussie stores.
Camera Icon When a head of lettuce exceeds $ 10 in some Australian locations, the sandwich maker warned that it was struggling to meet demand. Credit: Ted S. Warren / AP
It comes after news from KFC that a lettuce shortage caused by recent floods in Queensland and NSW was to blame for the move to a cabbage and lettuce mix, which could affect burgers like the popular Zinger.
“We’ve come across a bit like an iceberg and are currently experiencing some disruptions in the lettuce supply chain due to the impacts of the recent floods in Queensland and NSW,” he said in a statement to customers.
“This means you can see a temporary mix of lettuce and cabbage at KFC restaurants in NSW, VIC, QLD, ACT and TAS during this shortage.
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“If this is not your bag, click ‘customize’ on the selected product and remove the lettuce from the recipe.
“We are working with our multiple vendors to support them, but we expect the outages to continue in the coming days.”
West Aussie customers are not known to have been affected.
Meanwhile, labor shortages, the cost of raw materials, war and rising fuel and utility costs are among the factors affecting the price of groceries, experts say.
Speaking at the Global Food Forum, Coles CEO Steven Cain said Australia had a labor crisis in many sectors.
“What is happening with VOCID and the flu has worsened. Our absenteeism today is twice as normal as VOCID and the flu, and the dropout rate in most industries is rising.” he said.
Cain said grocers are also asking for more price hikes.
“We have received five times more requests for price increases than last year. Five times, “he said.
Camera IconKFC is experiencing a shortage of lettuce. Credit: supplied
Elsewhere, a major business group fears that the economy may be entering a “deadly spiral” of wage growth, inflation and interest rates following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s further rise in cash rates. of 20 years.
RBA Governor Philip Lowe raised the cash rate by 50 basis points to 0.85% after Tuesday’s monthly board meeting said inflation should be controlled. .
The increase is in addition to the 25 basis point increase in May, which was the first increase in more than a decade.
Ai Group CEO Innes Willox fears the worst, saying, “We are now at risk of a deadly spiral of wages, inflation and interest rates.”
The executive director of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Andrew McKellar, said the RBA’s decision was understandable given the inflationary pressures on the economy.
Consumer confidence had plummeted over the past week amid rising cost of living pressures and the anticipation of a further rise in interest rates.
The ANZ-Roy Morgan Weekly Consumer Confidence Index, an indicator of future household spending, fell 4.1% to 87, its lowest level since mid-August 2020, during the initial waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Consumer inflation expectations also rose 0.2 percentage points to 5.7%, the highest result since early April.
With AAP