Trade organisation, AIMS (Association of Independent Meat Suppliers), which represents both the processing and catering butchery sectors, wholesalers, cutting plants and some retail butchers has seen a rapid change in the impact coronavirus has been having on its foodservice members.
Foodservice demand to outlets, including schools, has decreased as more outlets are forced to close their doors.AIMS’s Tony Goodger said: “Some of the members are now reporting that, while killing to and over capacity, their foodservice customers starting to pull back on orders (pubs, hotels etc) obviously. Their supply chains into wholesalers supplying retailers and direct into retail outlets are flat out.“That said, many of our catering butcher members are very agile businesses and have quickly moved into home delivery.“We have heard of retail butchers having to close early due to running out of meat and having to pause to re-cut / manufacture products.“I also saw on Twitter this morning a butcher (not an AIMS) member saying that he was restricting sales of chicken breasts as he couldn’t keep up with demand.”The organisation has been updating its members daily since the crisis began, in a whole range of languages too. This includes information around key workers and preparations for moving into home deliveries.
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