When the country began closing up in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic last March, it was clear that keeping food supply chains from breaking down was going to be a big challenge. Shortages of meat, fresh fruit and vegetables and other foodstuffs were feared and in many cases came to pass.
Nobody predicted, though, that the country would run out of Grape-Nuts in early December and not get them back for at least three months. And while the disappearance of Grape-Nuts, a breakfast cereal manufactured by Post Holdings Inc., has been an extreme case, General Mills Inc.’s Cheerios, Kellogg Co.’s Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes, and Post’s Honeycomb and its various peanut-butter cereals were all also beset by what their manufacturers termed “capacity” or “supply” constraints.
