As the coronavirus began to make its way to the United States, shoppers began to panic and rushed to the stores, inexplicably choosing toilet paper as the item to stock up on. The high demand and panic-buying have combined to make the product virtually non-existent on grocery store shelves across America, but some restaurants have come up with a plan to help their customers out.
Food & Wine shares that though many restaurants have been restricted to only offering takeout or carry-out orders, some have been offering more than just food. Pizza Schmizza in Portland, Oregon, offered free toilet paper with every order for two nights this week, Libby’s Southern Comfort in Covington, Kentucky, is giving away toilet paper with every carry-out order and Mequon Pizza Company in Mequon, Wisconsin, is sending a roll of “Cottonelle two-ply” with every order and selling rolls for $1 each. Like grocery stores, they put a limit on the purchase, capping the rolls at six per customer.
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Tennessee Pizza Company in Seymour, Tennessee, currently has a “Buy two large pizzas, get one free roll of TP” deal, Danny’s Restaurant in Buffalo, New York, is giving away free toilet paper with any fish fry order, Pesci’s Pizza and Wings is adding a complementary roll to each pizza order and Double Zero in Venice, California is also sending out free toilet paper with every order. There are surely more restaurants getting on the idea, but those are just a few F&W compiled.
The issue with the currently TP shortage is in the supply chain. Such high demand puts stress on the system and responsible for the lack of paper items, water and more currently abounding in stores across the country.
According to retail grocery consultant Joe Walsh, the pace of restocks and the likelihood of items remaining on shelves once they are restocked depends on consumer behavior as well as how much inventory each store’s wholesaler or supplier has lined up.
“It’s a store-by-store case, but for a majority of chains and independents, they will replenish from their wholesaler immediately,” Walsh told NBC News. “Every case of bath tissue currently produced in pipeline, at a wholesaler or a warehouse, all those are spoken for.”
In the meantime, check out which restaurants near you (if any) are offering free TP deals — an order from them would get you two necessities — food and toilet paper — and help out a local business.
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