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Empty Shelves at New Jersey Costume Store Amid Reports of Halloween Shortages
Empty shelves were seen in a New Jersey costume store on Thursday, October 28, amid reports of national shortages ahead of the Halloween weekend. (Credit: Kate Hambrecht via Storyful)
Cream cheese is the latest product taking a hit in the U.S. economy.
Junior’s Cheesecake owner Alan Rosen told "Cavuto: Coast to Coast" Friday that a cream cheese shortage is deeply impacting his business since the demand has increased during the labor crisis.
"It's a very big deal … 85% of what we put in our cheesecake is cream cheese," Rosen noted to FOX Business host Neil Cavuto.
Rosen went on to say the main issue is there’s a labor shortage at some dairy plants. A few factories are continuing to shut down as demand has increased dramatically.
"Our demand alone is up over 43% this year…there’s really no substitute for us," the Junior’s Cheesecake CEO added.
Meanwhile, Rosen said the shortage caused his company to shut down production for several days, taking a toll on his business considering Junior’s Cheesecake uses 4 million pounds of cream cheese a year to make their signature dessert.
The owner said he’s doing his best to handle things "day-by-day."
"Our people are so, so wonderful – hey are coming in Sunday to make up for what we lost yesterday," Rosen explained.
Junior’s Cheesecake has been open for business since the 1950s and prides itself on being the "best cheesecake" in New York. The establishment has four locations throughout the Big Apple.
Since the start of the pandemic, the economy continues to reel from inflation, labor shortages and the potential threat of different coronavirus variants looming worldwide.
Rosen illustrated how inflation has impacted his company during the busy holiday season.
"We have not raised prices yet, we raise prices at retail this year, he said. "We're raising prices to some of our wholesale customers in the first quarter of next year. But we've seen price increases across the board…everything in the last 12 months has gone up tremendously."
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