GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — It’s not just gas prices that are going up. Food costs, too, are rising–as anyone who has bought groceries recently could tell you.
A Festival Foods spokesperson says prices are up anywhere from 4 to 12 percent, and that’s going to lead to a more expensive Thanksgiving Dinner than usual.
Brandon Scholz is the President of the Wisconsin Grocers Association and says it’s caused by the same thing plaguing many other industries: a lack of employees.
“We don’t have a food shortage in this country,” Scholz told WTAQ. “We just have a problem getting it to market because we don’t have enough people in the workforce to get it there.”
Grocers, Scholz says, placed their order for Thanksgiving inventory months ago. Many locked in prices then, meaning that you’ll see a wide range of prices from store to store.
“That’s why you see such a spread in prices on things like turkeys,” Scholz explained. “From .39 cents a pound to .59 cents a point to $1.29 to, I even saw one at $2.29 for free range organic.”
It’s not something grocers want to do. Scholz says grocers are aware that customers don’t like price increases.
“At some point, they have to raise the price in order to absorb the cost,” Scholz said Tuesday. “They just can’t put stuff on the shelf and sell it at a loss and expect to stay in business.”
A Festival Foods spokesperson told WTAQ that some items won’t be advertised due to a lack of supply.
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