Taco Bell has been hit by shortages of everything ranging from sour cream to sauce packets, in another sign of how supply chains are roiled coming out of the pandemic.
The fast food chain notified consumer on its website July 20 that "national ingredient shortages and delivery delays" are leading to out-of-stocks on some items. Customers took to Twitter and other social media to describe being unable to get chicken, beef, sour cream or sauce. One related how he had to eat a hard-shell taco because his local Taco Bell was out of soft tortillas.
“For anyone craving taco bell tonight, I'll save you the drive, they don’t have chicken or beef, national shortage or something. i just ate black beans in a hard shell. was not worth it,” read one tweet quoted in the Daily Mail.
Shortages of both ingredients and labor have been plaguing restaurants, especially quick-service ones. Chick-fil-A, Starbucks and others have had to apologize for limiting items like sauces or milk.
The problem is exacerbated by the sudden popularity of chicken among fast-food chains. Popeye’s said that it has been stockpiling chicken for months in preparation for the rollout of new chicken nuggets.
