Empty shelves at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s? Grocers cite freezing temps, Texas supply chain | Business News

Shoppers at the Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s stores in New Orleans and Metairie found themselves walking down aisles of empty shelves this week after sub-freezing temperatures, ice and snow crippled the grocers’ supply lines. 

Customers shared video to social media of dwindling milk options at Whole Foods and photos of Trader Joe’s signs bearing apologies for its low produce stock, problems that resembled neighboring Texas’ food shortage amid power outages and icy roads. 

Trader Joe’s Metairie – trucks couldn’t deliver coz of weather. While Foods MidCity had sane issue #nola #retail pic.twitter.com/owmNCJmZ7F

— Anthony McAuley (@AnthonyMcAuley2) February 19, 2021

Other New Orleans area grocers weren’t experiencing stocking issues such as the Trader Joe’s store in Metairie or Whole Foods’ three local stores: two in New Orleans and one in Metairie. That’s largely due to geography and where New Orleans area stores get their supplies.

A spokesperson for Thibodaux-based Rouses said its New Orleans area locations were fully stocked, in part because its local vendors and other suppliers aren’t traveling from or through Texas. Local outlets of Fresh Market, headquartered in Greensboro, N.C., and Jacksonville, Fla.-based Winn Dixie, also seemed to be unscathed by grocery shortages.

Nicole Dorignac, co-owner of Dorignac’s Food Center in Metairie, said the few items it gets from Texas distributors might take a few days to rebound, but its shelves weren’t “glaringly empty” for the same reason Rouse’s stores weren’t. 

“Since we use a lot of local and independent vendors, that’s helpful in keeping things stocked,” Dorignac said. “National and regional chains don’t do that.”

A spokesperson for the Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods wouldn’t say which stores faced empty shelves and when the grocer expected restocking. Trader Joe’s, headquartered in Monrovia, California, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Greetings Whole Foods shoppers! If you shop at the Magazine St. Whole Foods, here’s what you need to know before you go: it’s about 50/50 whether or not they have what you want. You might get everything you need or you might have to pivot. Happy shopping!

— Susan Whelan (@nolamaven) February 20, 2021

In Texas, the problem was much worse and more widespread. Walmart, headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, and Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix closed some stores for lack of power or lack of workers. And at locations that remained open, customers complained of long lines outside then shelves emptied of water, bread and milk inside.

Michael Zimmerman, a partner in the strategic operations practice of global management consulting firm Kearney, told The Associated Press it will take another two weeks before grocery shelves in Texas “look normal” again. He said that grocery chains run a very efficient operation, keeping in stock what they need and relying on continuous flows of deliveries. But that can backfire in situations like snowstorms and power outages when it helps to have the extra inventory.

“Supermarkets just don’t have room, even if they could store garlic for three years,” he said.

Meanwhile, food suppliers are having to scale back their operations or close farms and plants because of the outages. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller issued a red alert earlier this week, saying he’s getting calls from farmers and ranchers reporting that the interruptions in electricity and natural gas are having a “devastating effect on their operations.”

“We’re looking at a food supply chain problem like we’ve never seen before, even with COVID-19,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.