Grocery stores navigate supply chain issues amid holiday shopping

While supply chain disruptions have been hitting some Georgia grocery stores, they're not widespread ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

In a Monday press conference, Gov. Brian Kemp spoke to transportation leaders about what they’ve been doing to manage disruptions and what issues remain. They highlighted shortages of raw materials, manufacturing labor, and delivery challenges.

Kemp says Georgia is navigating shortages by planning ahead of price fluctuations and limited supply.

“It certainly seems that some around the country are just now starting to understand the long-term challenges that the logistics industry faces, he said. “I’m proud to say that’s not the case here in Georgia. We’ve been very forward thinking.”

Many grocery stores have been keeping up with customer demand ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. In the metro Atlanta area, local grocery store Oak Grove Market has avoided shortages even for high-demand items like Turkey.

Co-owner Chaffraix Rowles said they got in front of the issue.

“With our distributors, we have to claim what we want,” Rowles said. “This year, we claimed and paid a little earlier than we have in years past. But that’s because our distributors were telling us that they were going to run out.”

Large grocery store chains including Publix and Winn-Dixie are placing limits on certain holiday food items to keep up with demand from their limited supply. Items such as cranberry sauce and canned pie filling are two per person and turkeys are limited to one per customer.