From the struggle to find employees to work and getting customers to still buy food, restaurants have faced many challenges thanks to the pandemic. Many food centric businesses have made big adjustments just to stay afloat. The best pivot for most was to increase their focus on take out and deliver orders. But now that restaurant rescue idea may have to change again.

A Styrofoam shortage is happening. It is being reported that one of the biggest styrofoam cup manufacturers nationwide Dart – had roughly 150,000 employees. Since the pandemic that number has gone down to about 15,-000.

And………Thanks to the unusually harsh freezing temperatures during the past winter, many places that manufacture foam that goes into furniture cannot produce the foam in normal quantities either. The harsh winter deep freeze combined with the shutdown from 2020 has left the foam industry with a huge demand but no supply at the ready.

So how about we bring our own Tupperware to the restaurant? Focus on more paper products or recycled plastic bowls and boxes? Many drink centric businesses are rewarding customers for using their own washable cups. If only we could figure out how to do that better in the drive through!

Susan Saunders 9/23/21