Many local restaurants are dropping lettuce from their menus as a result of skyrocketing prices caused by widespread shortages.
Restaurants Canada Vice President for Atlantic Canada, Richard Alexander, says lettuce is a staple ingredient, but prices have jumped by 400 per cent in recent weeks.
Alexander says drought in California has driven up prices across the board.
(File photo)
California is the main supplier of lettuce to Canada, and two years of drought conditions have affected yields, along with a spot virus that’s also having a negative impact.
Alexander says restaurants are now busy trying to find other suppliers or make substitutions. In the meantime, lettuce is not the only food staple that has soared in price.
Canola oil has jumped from $8 dollars a gallon to $36 dollars a gallon “and you put canola oil in everything.” He says half of table-service restaurants in Canada are operating at a loss or at a break-even point.
(Swiss Chalet in St. John’s)
