Bonji Foods Aficionado Smart Brief: Volume 43
Preparing For Food Shortages
Hi all, welcome back to the Bonji Food Aficionado Smart Brief! We hope the weekend treated you well and that you are ready for a new week full of new opportunities! Have you been keeping up with the food news? It's unfortunate for many people, but food shortages are on the way, if not already noticeable. Today, we are writing to you from New Jersey, where we've seen plenty of rising costs, labor shortages, and inflation issues, but food shortages may still be heading our way. Although the United States may be affected slightly less than other countries, global droughts, costs skyrocketing, and civil unrest have all been steadily growing worries about food shortages. Working in the restaurant industry can be a very troubling situation. But don't be too alarmed, we are here to help as much as we can!
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Tips For Managing The Potential Food Shortage With droughts and lack of fertilizers terrorizing major players in the crop-growing industry, farmers, even in the United States, have started to prepare ahead of time. Whether it be the most expected slim corn supply or generic vegetables, farmers are saying to buy more now rather than wait for extreme price hikes or lack of stock. In fact, some farmers have even opted to take the risk of not planting anything, to avoid losing money and crops. With Thanksgiving around the corner, you may want to get a jump start if possible. Yet, we aren't here to scare you into prepping for a long winter, we simply want to offer a little assistance just in case we get hit harder than you may think.
1. Work With Local Suppliers Food grown across the world is becoming harder to access and far more expensive. Soon enough, you may not even be able to get the corn grown across the country. Thus, you should consider looking into sourcing from more local farms for a continuous supply. Not only will this help keep your ingredients coming, but also it will help boost the local economy. Also, just to mention, locally sourced ingredients are always going to be fresher! 2. Use Tech Tools to Help Systemize and Manage Inventory Systems and inventory management are key to a restaurant's success in general; however, they will become more and more important as food shortages surge. The digital solutions of today even offer assistance to sustainability and planning for the future. Inventory management is not only important when sourcing ingredients, but also when it comes down to your bottom line. With better and cheaper options coming out every year, tech is going to continue playing a major role in managing your inventory. 3. Have You Heard of Vertical Farming? Within controlled, indoor environments, vertical farming is an agricultural process that grows crops vertically instead of in the ground. The controlled environment offers a much easier way to maintain crops by managing light, temperature, and water. In fact, vertical farming actually uses about 98% less water than traditional farming. From more options due to less space being taken up, to a sustainable way to grow crops, you may be seeing much more about vertical farming in the next few years.
