Innovative thinking needed to solve the supply chain shortages

A SHORTAGE of McDonald’s milk shakes, tortilla chips and cranberry juice comes firmly under the tonguein-cheek banner of First World Problems. When millions around the world are existing on a handful of rice a day, the “crisis” in short supplies of what would be termed luxury food items by most people across the globe needs to be kept in perspective.

But that doesn’t mean what many are describing as a “perfect storm” for tourist hot-spots here in the Westcountry can be ignored. A smooth-running supply chain is vital for the businesses on which the Westcountry, in particular, depends. Breaks in that chain damage businesses, leave holidaymakers dissatisfied and put jobs and livelihoods at risk.

At the start of the pandemic, more than 18 months ago, hoarding and the potential for hold-ups in deliveries of goods all across the globe looked like causing genuine problems for people in Britain. Fortunately, a major crisis was averted. But now the problems are different, combining staff shortages in key jobs with huge demand from a bumper staycation year and those same old supply chain hold-ups.

It is illustrative of how much we have all come to take for granted a regular supply of exactly what we want, exactly when we want it. If temporary shortages and hold-ups teach us to at least appreciate how lucky we are to be able to have all our needs met most of the time, then some good might have come from these difficulties.

But in order to ensure they are genuinely short-term, measures must be taken to tackle the issues. That means a recruitment drive, with pay levels to match, to fill the gaps in the army of drivers needed to keep deliveries running to where they are needed.

It means measures taken so that farmers and food producers can get the staff they need, from abroad if necessary, to pick and pack the food on which we all rely. And it means attracting back staff to vital hospitality jobs, by making sure affordable accommodation is available to them, not let out to holidaymakers for a huge profit.

One of the major reasons for the problems now being experienced in holiday hot-spots in the Westcountry is that all the challenges have come at once. Brexit and a fall in the value of the pound prompted a lot of EU workers to quit Britain – that’s something which probably could have been managed on its own. But then coronavirus hit and the subsequent “pingdemic” which saw workers forced to stay away in quarantine for fear of passing on the virus added a whole new layer of difficulty to the problem. The fact that all this coincided with tough restrictions on foreign holidays and a staycation boom exacerbated the issues still further.

We will get through this, and the market will adjust because there is too much riding on the importance of profitable tourism and hospitality businesses for it not to do so, but there will need to be innovation and thinking outside the box, from the public and the private sectors.

In the meantime, we may have to do without milkshakes and tortilla chips for a little while longer.