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A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

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Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#51

Post by chii »

notyourday wrote: post #34
joncp wrote: post #10

The scarcity of flour, especially bread flour piques my curiosity. I haven't heard about anyone eating vastly more bread than before the quarantine. It's just that everyone is making it at home instead of buying it with meals at restaurants. One would expect the flour not being shipped to the restaurants would be redirected into the retail supply chain but that doesn't appear to be the case. The only explanations I c…

> . One would expect the flour not being shipped to the restaurants would be redirected into the retail supply chain but that doesn't appear to be the case. So I have friends that are reasonably known restaurateurs who obviously shut down their restaurants. I was talking to them about the logistics and the issues with the supply chain. It was rather eye opening to me. TL;DR : the problem with the supply chain is that…

i find it hard to believe that restaurants pay more than retail for the same goods.

Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#52

Post by pwg »

Retric wrote: post #23
pengaru wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On what planet does anybody pivot to eating home-baked bread without consuming substantially more of it?

The comment is about total bread consumption, not home-baked bread consumption. Home bakers and factories are both using the same basic ingredients, so why can’t supply chain’s easily swap? And the simple reality is they use different bags for transport and factories to fill the bags. Thus it’s a bag problem not a flour problem. PS: What’s so interesting about the shutdown is it exposed so much about the supply chain…

> Home bakers and factories are both using the same basic ingredients, so why can’t supply chain’s easily swap?

Because the commercial bakery wants the flour in a 100 lb bag, but the retail store needs 100 1 lb bags. And the commercial packaging lines can't easily swap to packing their product into 1 lb bags.

Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#53

Post by cbhl »

Retric wrote: post #23
pengaru wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On what planet does anybody pivot to eating home-baked bread without consuming substantially more of it?

The comment is about total bread consumption, not home-baked bread consumption. Home bakers and factories are both using the same basic ingredients, so why can’t supply chain’s easily swap? And the simple reality is they use different bags for transport and factories to fill the bags. Thus it’s a bag problem not a flour problem. PS: What’s so interesting about the shutdown is it exposed so much about the supply chain…

Restaurants and factories use much bigger (and plainer-looking) bags of flour than end-consumers, so retooling probably requires changes to the "paper bag" supply chain...

Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#54

Post by Spooky23 »

Retric wrote: post #23
pengaru wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On what planet does anybody pivot to eating home-baked bread without consuming substantially more of it?

The comment is about total bread consumption, not home-baked bread consumption. Home bakers and factories are both using the same basic ingredients, so why can’t supply chain’s easily swap? And the simple reality is they use different bags for transport and factories to fill the bags. Thus it’s a bag problem not a flour problem. PS: What’s so interesting about the shutdown is it exposed so much about the supply chain…

There’s no “bread” in bread, so the commercial bakeries are always going bankrupt, consolidating and squeezing every penny possible out of the business.

The average American has no access to good bread at retail, with some frozen stuff at a supermarket bakery probably being the best available.

Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#55

Post by PlainDishonesty »

dx87 wrote: post #5

That's actually how a lot of businesses in rural parts of Alaska work, even places that don't require a boat or plane to access. My dad lives right off the highway in a small town in Alaska, and the closest thing to a grocery store is an old airplane hanger that one of the locals runs a general store out of. The owner makes weekly trips to Costco, which is ~4 hours away, and buys as much as they can fit into a big U-…

Fascinating.

Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#56

Post by notyourday »

chii wrote: post #51
notyourday wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> . One would expect the flour not being shipped to the restaurants would be redirected into the retail supply chain but that doesn't appear to be the case. So I have friends that are reasonably known restaurateurs who obviously shut down their restaurants. I was talking to them about the logistics and the issues with the supply chain. It was rather eye opening to me. TL;DR : the problem with the supply chain is that…

i find it hard to believe that restaurants pay more than retail for the same goods.

You can create an account on most of the restaurant supply services and place pre-paid orders. You would be shocked at the pricing ( there would be a minimum order value as well )

Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#57

Post by sk5t »

chii wrote: post #51
notyourday wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> . One would expect the flour not being shipped to the restaurants would be redirected into the retail supply chain but that doesn't appear to be the case. So I have friends that are reasonably known restaurateurs who obviously shut down their restaurants. I was talking to them about the logistics and the issues with the supply chain. It was rather eye opening to me. TL;DR : the problem with the supply chain is that…

i find it hard to believe that restaurants pay more than retail for the same goods.

I also find this baffling, restaurants keep a very close eye on ingredient cost.

Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#59

Post by lonelappde »

dx87 wrote: post #5

That's actually how a lot of businesses in rural parts of Alaska work, even places that don't require a boat or plane to access. My dad lives right off the highway in a small town in Alaska, and the closest thing to a grocery store is an old airplane hanger that one of the locals runs a general store out of. The owner makes weekly trips to Costco, which is ~4 hours away, and buys as much as they can fit into a big U-…

Even in big cities, Costco is a restaurant and convenience store supplier. In remote areas the warehouse part is more emphasized.

Re: A man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

#60

Post by 9nGQluzmnq3M »

grecy wrote: post #28
Marsymars wrote: post #2

I visited Dawson City in the Yukon last year and was surprised to see Kirkland Signature goods on sale at the general store. Didn't think to ask how they got there.

(I live in the Yukon) It's extremely common to zip down to Juneau to go shopping and then hop back to the Yukon. It's just a 10 hour one way trip, and when you live in the North that's not so far. Tons of people go there simply to go to Costco (which doesn't exist in the Yukon) It's also really nice to go in winter when it's -40C/F in the Yukon (all inland) and usually right around freezing in Juneau (coastal)

> It's just a 10 hour one way trip

Spoken like a true Canadian. (Edit: Oops!)

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