A Trucker Shortage Is Forcing Restaurants to Buy Local
- Cost to ship ingredients has jumped 14 percent in past year
- Buying local, once upscale mantra, now for sandwich shops, too
An American flag decal is displayed on a delivery truck in Concord, North Carolina.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
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Local ingredients are trendy among upscale restaurants. Now, with surging shipping costs, sandwich and salad shops are following along.
A labor crunch in the trucking industry is making it more expensive to deliver everything from apples to zucchini. U.S. shipping rates jumped 14 percent in the year ended June 30, sending truck use to nearly 100 percent capacity, according to Freight Transportation Research Associates. Restaurants are facing higher prices, and to avoid passing them along to customers, they’re shopping closer to home.