DENMARK, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The pandemic is still having an impact on food prices and supplies.
Local shops are seeing spikes in the cost of everything from food to the materials used to package it, and Blossoms Cheese Store in Denmark is just one of many.
The store aims to provide local goods from across Wisconsin.
“Anyway we can get anything local, our honey is local, our syrup is local, our cheese is local with so many cheese factories within 20 miles of here we try and sell to everybody,” Blossoms Cheese Store owner Tammy Sommer said.
Sommer says the supply chain has impacted her store throughout the pandemic.
“We can’t get everything we need. We can’t get 20 ounce cups for some reason, then we can’t get a lid, then we can’t get our ham,” Sommer said.
Lower supply means higher prices.
“We’ve basically had to raise prices through the board of everything. Maybe it was a little bit of cheese last year, now the meat is a little higher, even the coffee beans are higher. Our chocolates are a little higher, we haven’t seen anything that has gone down,” Sommer said.
Over at Pelkin’s Smokey Meat Market in Suamico, manager Kevin Goldberg says the meat market hasn’t experienced large shortages.
“We have had some fluctuations of availability but never really what I’d call a shortage. However, the pricing has been up and down and all over,” Goldberg said.
He says the cost of beef has dramatically increased in the last 6 to 8 months, as much as 2 to 3 dollars per pound.
According to the Labor Department, meat, poultry, fish and eggs are up 14.7% from prices in July 2019.
Goldberg says the spike in price isn’t typical.
“Just like with everything, we see a gradual increase with stuff. Everything goes up with time. But the sheer amount of fluctuation is not normal,” Goldberg said.
Both Goldberg and Sommer say the quality of the food is still there.
“You have to have patience with us because we are all doing our best just to keep the pricing low. But we also have to pay our employees a fair wage too, so we have to raise prices to make sure our employees are doing well and to make sure that you’re getting a quality product,” Sommer said.
“Our quality has definitely not changed. Unfortunately our prices have but if anything we are taking less margin, we’re just trying to get it to them at the best price we can,” Goldberg said.
According to the Labor Department, the cost of dairy has gone up 6.3% from prices in July 2019.
