Coronavirus In Pittsburgh: Local Grocery Stores Say They Aren't Expecting To Get All The Meat They Ordered
ALLEGHENY COUNTY (KDKA) -- Local meat supplies are currently limited amid the coronavirus pandemic.
While Ryan Graco at Kuhn's Grocery says chicken is abundant, "beef and pork will be a little bit tough, but we will have meat available for the public."
Graco says the overall supply chain is improving, with the exception of toilet paper and disinfectants.
And the demand for everything is high.
"Every day is a Sunday morning, it does not ease up. It's going at full strength," Graco said.
Butchers at Shop 'n Save say they're doing OK now but are not expecting to get all the meat they've ordered over the next few days.
At Restaurant Depot in Pittsburgh's Strip District, they're only getting about half of the meat they've ordered.
Restaurants are having to adjust their menus to what they can get.
At Giant Eagle, the meat counters vary day-to-day and store-to-store. The chain has been tapping a number of suppliers in what Giant Eagle spokesperson Dan Donovan describes as a new normal for meats.
"We are certainly in a different supply issue with meats than we were eight weeks ago. But in the last couple of weeks, that hasn't changed much," Donovan said.
Donovan says there is a direct cause-effect relationship between the national meat shortage reports and the run on local meat counters.
Graco says they've also implemented a "one-per-customer" limit.
"A lot of customers are looking to stock up on those items, and that's why those purchase limits are in place," Donovan said.
Giant Eagle has seen such an increase in curbside and delivery demands as they are doing curbside and delivery only at the Parkway Center store.
Donovan says they've upped the staff at the store from 60 to 170 to meet the demand.
"At this store alone today, we will fulfill 350 orders and over 70 of those will be delivery," Donovan said.
The Parkway location has 40 pickup spots and unlike some stores, the specialty location can fill orders the same day.
Donovan says they monitor all their stores' sales and move products to anticipate the demand.
He says if you are shopping for hard-to-find items, mornings are your best shot.
That said, he adds they stock throughout the day as trucks arrive at the stores.
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