Should we be worried about a ketchup shortage?

Do you feel fast food chains are not giving you enough ketchup, are the bottles at restaurants half empty instead of half full? What’s going on in the world of ketchup?

Foodies used to not even have to ask for ketchup on the drive-thru, we’d just find several already there with our order. Now, many of us are leaving the drive-thru without a single pack of ketchup, because we forgot to request some.

Don’t get me wrong, even though I believe 2-3  packets of ketchup should be included in every order, we should still ask for it just to be sure we’re not disappointed later. However, even when we ask, these days we’re lucky if we get more than two packets. What’s up with that?

Guilty Eats are not the only foodies who have noticed this, so has mashed, and they just about answered all our questions.

The source shares that we shouldn’t be upset with the employee behind the counter or drive-thru window, because the problem is bigger than we thought.

Is there a ketchup shortage going on?

According to the source, there is, in fact, a ketchup shortage happening and we can blame the pandemic for it.

Kraft Heinz, the biggest ketchup retailer in the U.S., has been finding it difficult to keep up with the high demand since the pandemic, the source writes. Reportedly, ketchup sales went up 15%  in 2020, particularly for ketchup bottles and packets designed for home use.

This was an unexpected demand increase on top of many employees not able to work due to the pandemic.

Long John Silver’s came close to completely running out of ketchup had they not switch suppliers, so shares the source. Yikes! Now that things are improving around the world, this shouldn’t be a problem for too long.

Which condiments do you love in your fast food? How many packets are ideal?