In October, a cyber attack on America’s largest cheese maker caused a nationwide shortage of cream cheese shortly before the holidays. , jeopardizing holiday cheer for millions, Bloomberg News reported.
Bloomberg reported that the attack targeted plants and distribution centers. As a result, Wisconsin-based Schreiber Foods was unable to fully operate For a few days, just as it was at its peak before the Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas holidays.
The company is one of the nation’s largest dairy marketers, including cheese, yogurt and, most importantly, cream cheese slices, with annual sales of more than $5 billion.
The brutally timed attack exacerbated existing problems: Schreiber Foods said all cream cheese producers were already struggling to maintain adequate supplies.
Even before the cyber attack and peak holiday demand, manufacturers were struggling with labor shortages and disruptions to supply chains, packaging and trucks. Cream cheese is not like other products that can be stored. No one has a large quantity, and there is certainly no strategic reserve for cream cheese, as there is for oil in the United States and maple syrup in Canada.
“While this [cyberattack] Certainly, the event didn’t help, it’s really the global events that are the main driver of what’s happening with cream cheese,” said Andrew Tobisch, director of communications for Schreiber Foods.
The company said it expects the shortage to be short-lived, Tobish said. But that will take “a little longer” to resolve, he added, though he did not provide a deadline.
Last year, demand for cream cheese rose 18 percent compared to 2019, as more people cooked at home during the shutdown. It remains at that high level in 2021, Kraft said.
The cream cheese shortage has forced restaurants and vendors to get creative. For example Craft (different)The owner of Philadelphia Cream Cheese recently said he will reimburse some customers he buys desserts from because he can’t find cream cheese in time to make holiday cheesecake.
I New York’s Junior Cheesecake, which normally spends £4 million a year on cream cheese to make its signature product, has been forced to stop production of its famous cheesecake from time to time due to shortages. New York bagel shops have also been reported to have struggled to obtain sufficient supplies.
CNN’s Daniel Weiner Bruner contributed to this report.
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