A record potato crop in the South Island is not stopping worries over chip supplies in the South, one fish and chip shop owner being told she only has four weeks of supply left.
But another operator says supply warnings come and go and it appears the only certainty is the price of a New Zealand dietary staple is continuing to go up.
Galley Takeaways owner Diane Williamson, of Bluff — owner of what she described as "the world's most southern takeaway shop" — said it had become hard to do business, not only because of the increase in prices but also the shortage of products.
The price of chips had skyrocketed in the last couple of months.
"I’ve changed that supplier to tackle inflation, you know, trying to navigate my way through the purchases versus profit scenario ... I went to a different supplier and up until recently, I was paying $47 a carton — last week, it went to $55.
"That would be a 20% increase, and that is just in the last two weeks."
The three wholesaler companies she worked with had told her about a supply shortage on its way.
"They told me that there is four weeks, potentially five weeks — depending on trading — of fries, New Zealand fries, left in this country."
The explanation given to her was that climate change, cyclones and wet weather had impacted massive crops of potatoes.
"Do I need to start to do fish butties?" she said, laughing.
Dunedin Tahuna Camp Store owner Steve Coombe said in the last year, his supplier had told him four times there might be a potential shortage coming up, but it never happened.
"Supply shortages are an issue not just for chips — it's for everything.
"From a fish and chip shop perspective, that happens with oil, and happens with chips and happens with fish — there is a wide range of things that are consistently out of stock, in stock, out of stock ... That is just the way it has been since Covid."
He believed his shop was in a lucky situation as it usually ordered high volumes and, consequently, suppliers tended to look out for it.
There was a price increase at the beginning of the month which was advised previously by his supplier.
It was due to rising living costs, especially transport, he said.
"For me, honestly, it is just part of business these days.
"It's just the way it is. You can't do anything about it so you have to look within your business to say, ‘okay, what is sustainable?’ and work through it because you can't continually just keep putting prices up and up ... because all of a sudden, your market changes significantly."
Potatoes New Zealand chief executive Kate Trufitt said she did not believe there was a shortage of supply of potatoes in the country.
"The South Island has had record crops this season and while we recognise that weather has played a part in short term supply dynamics, especially in the North Island, it has not resulted in any known supply issues.
"We believe that this is market forces at play and possibly a localised wholesaler issue."
