The latest pandemic-related shortage is taking aim at ready-made pizza dough, and all we can say is: Haven't we suffered enough?!
General Mills, the parent company behind Pillsbury and Totino’s, recently revealed that it's struggling to keep up with demand for the two brands' dough products, citing supply chain issues and distribution center delays.
The company addressed the shortage during its recent Q3 earnings call, and acknowledged that net sales performance "lagged Nielsen-measured retail sales growth by approximately 3 points in the quarter, driven by supply shortages on the refrigerated dough, pizza, and hot snacks categories."
During the call, a General Mills representative said the company doesn't expect to rebuild inventories fully in Q4.
“If we can do a bit better and service levels improve, we might be able to rebuild a bit but likely we’ll push into fiscal ‘23 where hopefully we can get back to more historic inventory level,” the representative said.
The entire food industry continues to face labor and ingredient shortages, along with transportation challenges, and General Mills’ current conundrum means you might have a hard time finding your favorite Totino’s or Pillsbury pizza dough and rolls in the coming months.
A representative declined to share what specific ingredients are in short supply or elaborate on the bottleneck issues at distribution centers, but said General Mills is taking steps to address the shortages.
"We have been facing acute supply shortages on refrigerated dough, pizza, and hot snacks, but we have started to see improved customer service on those platforms in the last few weeks and we expect further service improvement in the coming months," the representative told TODAY Food via email.
General Mills is just the latest company to face supply chain issues, and consumers have had trouble finding a slew of their favorite food products over the past few years.
From ketchup and cream cheese to Lunchables and champagne, no food has been immune to the pesky supply shortages. Takeout containers were even in short supply last fall.
At the onset of the pandemic, in August 2020, pizza shops also faced a pepperoni shortage, so this isn't the first time that pizza has been a victim of the ongoing saga.
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