Food prices have been nibbling into household budgets and fattening grocery bills since COVID-19’s emergence, figures show.
“There’s no question,” said Phil Lempert, a food industry expert who founded SupermarketGuru.com, “I’m spending more on food.” He’s not alone. It’s also layered on new customer expectations about shopping during a pandemic, and all those plexiglass dividers, hand-sanitizer stations and cleaning supplies to wipe down scanning equipment and carts cost money.To be sure, there are supply-chain challenges and added costs to surmount those challenges, said Greg Portell, lead partner in the global consumer practice at Kearney, a strategy and management consulting firm.
Jim Dudlicek, director of communications and external affairs for the National Grocers Association, a trade association, said food prices have climbed for a number of reasons, including gas costs, consumer demand and “supply chain pressures.” But as restaurants feed more people eager to get out of the house as vaccination rates rise, grocery stores face a new set of challenges in keeping customers.
Jared Bernstein and Ernie Tedeschi, members of President Joe Biden’s Council of Economic Advisors, wrote in April that, across the board, they expected “measured inflation to increase somewhat” over the next several months.
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Inflation?