Grocery Stores Face Continued Supply Chain Problems

Grocers are challenged to keep shelves full as shopping habits change amidst a global pandemic.

Leon’s Gourmet Grocer is a small grocery store in Lincoln. Employees there are wearing masks and gloves to protect employees and customers.

Chad Winters helps run Leon’s and said getting product for the store is extremely difficult. He estimates if he ordered 800 pieces of grocery for a given delivery, the store would be lucky to receive 380.

“Slowly those numbers are kind of getting back to normal, but so many things are on allocation that we’re getting, you know, two and three cases of something that we really need eight to ten cases of to make it to the next truck,” Winters said. “So you see the shelves slowly thinning out and it looks like the food supply is going down.”

Winters said Leon’s has leaned on local producers to keep things like eggs and chicken in stock. The store has also ordered restaurant-grade produce and packaged it themselves to keep produce in stock. The store does have difficulty maintaining supplies of toilet paper and sanitizing products.

Winters said requests for delivery are up and it’s difficult for staff to keep up with the requests. The store is hiring additional staff.