Pub favourites such as chicken wings, burgers, skewers and the popular Sunday roast are all under pressure on pub menus as the supply chain faces major challenges.
Concerns have been raised that UK chicken producers, who have been unable to expand operations due to restrictive planning laws, will be unable to meet demand. This is due, in part, to higher welfare standards, which means that lower number of birds are being kept in barns.
While the ongoing impact of avian flu is seeing a fall in stocks and travel restrictions on birds in Europe and beyond.
Hospitality purchasing specialist Lynx Purchasing managing director Rachel Dobson said: “The obstacles facing British chicken producers in terms of navigating planning laws that are holding back expansion will have the biggest impact on those pubs that highlight that they use fresh British chicken on their menu.”
Lower availability
She added: “From experience, we know that once supermarkets start competing for available supplies of any fresh product, the hospitality sector tends to feel the squeeze in terms of both lower availability and higher prices.”
Lynx Purchasing also revealed the poultry suppliers it works with are reporting the impact of travel restrictions on birds imposed in some European countries, as well as a general shortage of chicken available to processing plants in Europe, is pushing up wholesale prices by around a third to a half.
“All this will inevitably filter through into the prices pubs pay for fresh whole chickens and chicken portions, as well as pre-made chicken products. As always, the best advice is to keep talking to suppliers, and to keep menu descriptions flexible where possible in order to make the most of changing availability,” Dobson added.
National Farmers Union poultry board chair James Mottershead said it is important the UK keeps up with welfare standards but raised concern about food security.
“At a time when the British people are understandably nervous about increased imports of chicken which have been produced in ways which would be illegal here, and when the Government has repeatedly stated that food security is national security, it’s vital that the planning system enables poultry producers to maintain a strong supply of homegrown chicken,” he added.
Modern food production
While the national trade group for the poultry meat industry, The British Poultry Council, said that there was a disconnection between the planning system and the needs of modern food production.
A spokesperson said: “If we are serious about meeting demand for safe and affordable British poultry meat, backing domestic production, and strengthening our food security, we need a planning system that supports responsible growth - and we need to stop pretending that lack of availability is disconnected from the choices we make about land use.”
Meanwhile, Star Pubs food development manager Karl Watts said: “We are aware of the current market volatility and the increase in price of certain products. Thanks to our existing agreements for our Just Add Talent pubs we are not seeing significant impacts at this time. However, we are monitoring the situation closely.
“Moreover, our leased and tenanted pubs can take advantage of our current supplier agreement by utilising our menu builder tool.”
This isn’t the first time that chicken supply issues have hit the headlines as in 2021, the impact of Brexit saw the market face increasing pressure.
