A frozen party food favourite is in short supply in Victoria after a major factory was forced to close after the state’s flood crisis.
Supermarkets and wholesale food retailers have been struggling to meet consumer demand for the humble dim sim because of a shortage of cabbages caused by the floods across Australia.
As well, the major supplier of dim sims to Coles and Woolworths – Marathon Foods – was forced to close its Melbourne production facility after the floods caused extensive water damage.
A Marathon Foods spokesperson said they lost all inventory they had on site after floods hit the region in October.
“As we are the largest producer of dim sims in Australia, this caused a huge hole in the supply of these products Australia-wide,” they said.
The spokesperson said it has “been a tough period for the company”.
“Our maintenance, quality assurance and production teams have been working around the clock to get our site back up and running,” they said.
As of last week, Marathon Foods had started supplying all food service and retail trading partners again and expect to have their products back in stores “shortly”.
“Aussies will be able to get our dim sims and spring rolls from their favourite food or retail outlet shortly,” the spokesperson said.
The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) warned that pub owners might have to push up the prices of hot potato chips due to a similar shortage.
“Almost every pub classic involves a side of potato – be it steak and chips, bangers and mash, burger and chips, parma (or parmie) and chips, potato cakes, fish and chips – the list goes on,” AHA national president David Canny said in a statement on Saturday.
“The increase in the price of potatoes puts more financial pressure on pubs already facing increased costs including power, beer excise, drinks over the bar, transport and staff.”
Some restaurants are having to consider replacing the starchy favourite with other roasted vegetables.
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