Thank You Food and Beverage Industry Workers!
President FDR famously referred to the American manufacturing industry as “the arsenal of Democracy”, building the tanks, trucks, and planes that helped the allies prevail in the second world war. Today, we are in a very different kind of fight against a very different kind of enemy, but the need is still great and brave men and women in manufacturing are again answering the call helping ensure consumers can get the food and personal care products they need during this critical time. The supply chain for food is sort of like your plumbing, you don't think about it until there is a problem and then you realize how complex it really is.
If you’ve been to a grocery store in the last few months, you’ve no doubt run into empty shelves where cleaning products, canned goods, and pasta usually sit several rows deep. Covid-19 has shown just how critical the food production supply chain really is, with factories working around the clock to keep store shelves stocked. An $8 trillion global food supply chain has been upended as consumers pivot from restaurants to more home cooked meals and a contracting economy drives food budgets to tighten. Companies that normally make vodka are retooling to make hand sanitizer, and chocolate makers are pitching in to make PPE. Plants are reorganizing to add shifts and increase capacity and looking for new and creative ways to reduce downtime. This is particularly important at smaller manufacturers and family owned companies that may not have as much engineering support as larger brands, but still support thousands of jobs making everything from canned vegetables to locally sourced honey. These issues are made even more complex by the need to implement social distancing and other safety measures within production facilities.
The magnitude of the Covid-19 crisis has galvanized some of the worlds brightest minds designing new ventilators or developing innovative contact tracing applications. By all means we commend those people for their hard work, creativity, and commitment. These people and the healthcare workers on the front lines will be remembered as the George Pattons and Douglas MacArthurs, of what will surely be one of the defining struggles of this century. But, for every Patton and MacArthur there were thousands of men and women in the background making small but critical contributions producing everything from B-17s to ration packets. We’d like to thank the 150,000 Americans in the food production industry, and the many more supporting them for the difference they are making.