LISBON: When rumors first began to circulate that the UK would go back into lockdown, Leanne Barnes despaired as bread and toilet roll flew off the shelves again at her local supermarket. But to her surprise, shelves were back to being fully stocked within a few days.
Their steps include expanding manufacturing, hiring more workers, re-routing products from restaurants to grocery stores, and turning to bigger pack sizes. Many of their moves came at a high financial cost. Yet for consumer companies, the financial consequences of quickly ramping up production have been severe.
Kurzius said the company has had to de-prioritize products like some gluten-free spices in favor of popular comfort ingredients like pumpkin-pie spice and taco seasoning. “I'm not trying to tempt fate by saying that, but I think McCormick, as well as our industry as a whole, is in a much better place.”
Campbell CEO Mark Clouse told Reuters the company has upped outsourcing of production of soup and some snacks to third-party manufacturers – or “co-packers” - to meet any unexpected demand quickly. Rival Kimberly-Clark , the world’s biggest toilet paper maker, is also seeing higher manufacturing and distribution costs, while Clorox said this month that it is “investing significantly” in third-party suppliers and getting products to retailers faster.