LOWVILLE, New York (WWNY) – Bagel shops in New York City are experiencing a shortage that can be traced, in part, to the north country. It’s cream cheese.
Many of the shops use Philadelphia cream cheese, which is what the Kraft Heinz plant in Lowville makes.
The shortage has many reasons. Bagel shop owners in New York City say some of what they need is stuck on ships at ports, and once it’s unloaded off a ship, there aren’t enough truck drivers to move the product.
As for what’s happening at the plant in Lowville, company officials have been quoted as saying demand it so high that it’s shipping 35 percent more product than it was last year. In the north country, that has a ripple effect.
“As you know, Kraft supports our local co-op’s and farms in Jefferson and Lewis county, which in turn supports all of these supporting industries and small businesses. So, this increase in sales will definitely have a positive ripple effect locally,” said Brittany Davis, Lewis County Economic Development executive director.
A spokesperson for Kraft Heinz told the New York Times the company is seeing a high demand across a number of its products and officials don’t expect it to slow down any time soon as people continue to eat breakfast at home and cook desserts with cream cheese as an ingredient.
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