Mario Pich with Central Fish Co. filets a salmon. Pich has been with Central Fish for three years. Photo by Edward Smith.

A video from a Fresno restaurateur posted to Facebook put the spotlight on the continued supply crunch business owners are facing.

The video shows Lewis Everk, owner of Vyxn Restaurant and Lounge, Jugo Salad & Juice Bar and LUXS Kitchen shopping at a grocery store for goods he would otherwise be getting delivered.

And for a salad and juice bar reliant on fresh produce, Everk said it’s been exceptionally difficult.

One of Everk’s vendors sent a message out saying deliveries for accounts were being canceled because of a shortage of delivery drivers and warehouse workers.

“Now, not only are households going to shop for their daily needs, now you’ve got restaurants and food trucks and these other folks going to these places to get their produce and their meat and their poultry because they can’t get it from their vendors,” Everk said.

Food purveyor Sysco Corp. also announced it would delay deliveries to customers, according to Fox Business News. This impacted poultry, beef, paper and disposables.

It didn’t help that in Illinois, Teamsters for the supply giant went on strike Aug. 30 after negotiations for a new contract fell through. The strike ended after four days when negotiations resumed — but not without restaurants being impacted.

Larger restaurants are being prioritized over smaller restaurants, says Everk. With limited drivers, it’s more lucrative to make bigger deliveries to fewer stops, he said.

Calls to Sysco and U.S. Food were not returned by press time.

Because of this, customers can’t get things like avocados, which Everk points out has been contentious with customers. He looks at customer complaints and has to approach each one differently. “We’ve been ordering avocados for weeks and getting zero,” Everk said. “Trust me, we want to sell you avocado toast.”

Despite the rising cost of goods, Everk said he has yet to pass many of those costs onto the consumer. He said it’s hard to sell people on limited staffing, limited items and higher prices. “It’s a very hard pill to swallow if we wanted to pass that cost on,” he said.

Over the past year, wholesale food prices have risen 12.7%, with beef rising 59.2% year-over-year and shortening and vegetable oil rising 43.5% year-over-year, according to the Producer Price Index.

For restaurants relying on imports, shipping container and labor shortages have international products largely waiting on the water, says Morgan Doizaki, owner of Central Fish Co. in Fresno.

Before the pandemic, the cost to bring a container from another country was $3,000. Now, it’s almost $30,000. Much like lumber a few months ago, wholesalers have to contemplate buying at hyperinflated prices. Doizaki bought 10 pallets of swai — an Asian catfish — anticipating shortages. The price has since increased $1 per pound.

“It ties up money,” Doizaki said. “You have to pick and choose what battles you want to do.”

The only vendors with seafood right now are middlemen, said Doizaki, and prices “have gone through the roof.” For a while, it was cheaper to buy king crab from Costco than it was from vendors, Doizaki said. He was buying at $31 a pound and selling at $35 a pound, eating the cost to keep his customers happy. Once prices jumped to $38, he said it no longer made sense.

Doizaki said even if production went to 100%, it would be three months before stores in the U.S. would notice the increase.

On the labor side, Doizaki said he’s begun giving workers free meals.

“I didn’t realize how many people wouldn’t eat because they didn’t have $5 in their pocket,” he said. Even at the price of thousands of dollars a month, Doizaki said productivity goes down when his workers are hungry.

Alex Costa co-owns Mad Duck Brewing Co. with his partners and he says shortages on supplies are across the board.

“Everything is attainable, it’s just the price is through the roof,” Costa said.

“Chicken wings are impossible to get for any decent price unless you want to spend $25 on them,” he said.

Cans are getting expensive, said Costa. During the pandemic, they began canning their beers for distribution. Because of shortages, aluminum is hard to come by.

Shortages and delays have become so commonplace, they’ve have changed how restaurateurs view inventory. People used to be able to count on a two-week turnaround, now people are waiting six weeks for an email response.

“If you’re two weeks out, you’re going to run out,” Costa said.

But Costa says he tries to be optimistic.

“Continue trucking and keep your head up and focus on keeping your staff happy,” Costa said.