Supply chain issues prompt Thanksgiving turkey alert from grocers

By Andrew Ozaki

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    LINCOLN, Nebraska (KETV) — Oh, you can already imagine the smell of Thanksgiving dinner.

But retailers such as Rob Toy at Leon’s Gourmet Grocer in Lincoln said, if you want to be carving a turkey in three weeks, you may want to start planning to get that bird in hand now.

“Get your orders in early and buy early if you’re going to buy frozen, get the items that you want now. Buy them early because some availability as it gets further down may not be there,” Toy said.

Toy said they’ve already taken about 60 orders for fresh birds.

He said they’ll sell about 600.

“I think this is gonna probably be the first holiday everybody’s going to get back together since all this the pandemic and I think that people are going to buy bigger, more. They’re going to have a big holiday dinner,” Toy said.

Last year, there was a shortage, especially of smaller birds.

It’s unclear if that could occur again.

A spokesperson for the National Turkey Federation told KETV Newswatch 7 the industry is working to provide turkeys.

“The turkey industry is working every day to mitigate any lingering effects of the pandemic on the supply chain,” said Beth Breeding, of the National Turkey Federation.

“Turkey is the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving meal, and Americans can rest assured that there will be turkeys available this holiday season,” Breeding said.

However, prices could be higher according to Jennifer Ryan, the chair of the Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics at the University of Nebraska Lincoln Business College.

“Substantially higher like, 25 to 50% higher,” Ryan said.

Ryan attributes the higher prices to increased grower costs, processing slowdowns, transportation costs and labor costs.

“Increased costs across the board are leading to higher prices for turkeys as well as everything else on the table,” Ryan said.

Ryan said consumers should be aware there supply chain uncertainties for other holiday items as well.

“You want to make sure you have all of those ingredients, all those foods you want for your holiday dinners, you want to make sure you have them, so if you see them in the store, you might stock up now,” Ryan said.

Toy said they are trying to absorb some of the increases for customers but he recommends buying now.

“There might be a time,” Toy said. “Just prepare early and buy early,”

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