Commentary 
In the grand scheme, a half-million dollars may not seem like a lot. For a business that runs on relatively thin margins, though, any surprise cost increase can end up making a tremendous difference. So it was for Long John Silver’s circa April 2021. The “Great Ketchup Shortage” had just cost the restaurant chain that five hundred thousand.
Stephanie Mattingly, the company’s chief marketing officer, told The Wall Street Journal how, “Everyone out there is grabbing for ketchup.” As a result, the business did what you’d expect: they passed along the condiment surcharge to their customers.
The head of Heinz Ketchup would later dispel the notion that the tomato condiment was ever in short supply. CEO Miguel Patricio noted to Time Magazine last June how there’d always been enough, it just wasn’t packaged for how Americans were consuming it right then….