Meat counters in Tri-Cities stores are full — maybe not for long

Tri-City butchers are starting to brace for the possibility of having less meat available for customers.

Aside from initial rush to stores in the first weeks of COVID-19, the meat supply in Tri-City grocery stores has been constant. However, several locally-owned stores have been told by vendors to prepare for a limited supply.

On Monday, Costco announced on its website that each member is temporarily limited to buying a total of three meat items from beef, pork and poultry products.

“Wholesalers are telling us that there won’t be more beef deliveries for this week and there will be limited pork quantities,” said Mike Nellis, owner of Red Apple in Kennewick.

He told the Herald that until this week, the store’s meat supply has been normal. The Kennewick grocery is among a chain of more than a dozen Red Apple stores in Washington.

However, for the first time since the coronavirus hit, the quantity of the Kennewick store’s beef delivery this week was nearly half of what they had ordered.

The closure of the Tyson beef slaughter and packing plant at Wallula south of Pasco, along with the temporarily closure of pork, beer and chicken processing plants across the country is causing a ripple effect.

Nellis said that even if stores do not buy from Tyson, other meat processors are feeling the pinch. He’s expecting a shortage — or even an absence — of beef in coming weeks, and likely he won’t see much pork either.

Costco said its new limits are to ensure more members are able to buy some meat, the website said.

Suppliers warn stores

Fiesta Foods in Pasco has not placed any limits on purchases because their meat counters have been full.

“We’ve brought in a lot of meat and haven’t had an issue,” said Luis Moreno, general manager of Fiesta that also has stores in Yakima and Sunnyside. “But we’ve been warned by our vendors that we want to get ready. In two or three weeks we may not have any meat.”

Moreno believes that we are now seeing a reaction in the supply chain to the period of time when processors have been shut down.

Even when the supply chain begins catching up, grocery store consumers may see an increase in prices and a difference in the meat products that are offered at the meat counter.

Nellis told the Herald that as restaurants begin to reopen for dine-in customers, the demand for the limited supply will go up even more.

Processors cut and package meat differently for wholesalers, restaurants and grocery stores, he explained.

He said packers who supply Red Apple haven’t been able to identify which industry will be supplied first. The value and profit margin is different for each industry, and he says he has to watch to see how it plays out.

“What you are going to see will be limited,” Nellis said. “You used to be able to go in and get a T-bone, ribs or steaks. But I predict that only certain cuts will be available — and hamburger is going to be a big deal.”