Ketchup packets are 2021’s toilet paper

Citing a year’s worth of COVID-19 restaurant closures, workplace safety issues and the resulting strain on the supply chain, the ketchup industry says it is playing catchup as supplies dwindle and companies seek to ramp up supply, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Restaurants in search of packets are mostly feeling the squeeze.

“We’ve been hunting high and low,” Chris Fuselier, owner of Denver-based Blake Street Tavern, told the newspaper of his struggle. 

The problem is the pandemic limited many restaurants to take-out service, “making individual ketchup packets the primary condiment currency for both national chains and mom-and-pop restaurants,” the newspaper reported.

And packet prices are up 13% since January 2020, with at least one fast-food restaurant — the 700-restaurant chain Long John Silver’s LLC — reporting as much as $500,000 in extra costs related to America’s favorite condiment, according to the report.

More insurance and workers compensation news on the coronavirus crisis here.