Food Banks Need Our Support to Combat Inflation

While inflation is finally cooling a little bit, nothing seems to stop the soaring food prices. Prices of margarine and butter in December 2022 increased 44% and 31%, respectively, from a year ago. Egg prices had even gone up by 60% (Brooks, 2023)

Inflation is just one factor driving up the food prices

Inflation and the recent bird flu outbreak might have just created a perfect storm to jack up egg prices. Plus, it also happened that more states began transitioning to cage-free eggs around the same time. Effective in 2023, all eggs sold in California must be laid by hens living in cage-free or better conditions. Likewise, a similar bill is now under review by the Senate Agriculture Committee in New York. Leave the war in Ukraine aside; prices for eggs and other essential food items (e.g., baked goods) are unlikely to drop soon.

Food banks are struggling

As a result of soaring food prices, food banks only afford to buy fewer items with the funds they raise (Yang, 2022). According to CAPI (Center for Asian and Pacific Islanders) USA, a non-profit organization serving immigrants and refugees, they used to pay $50,000 per year for 400 lbs. of food. They are now paying $100,000 for about the same amount of food this year.

Meanwhile, food banks have found it more challenging to get adequate donations to meet the increasing demands. Some food banks can only afford to give each family in need a half gallon of milk instead a whole gallon. Additionally, when every organization is dealing with the labor shortage challenge, some food banks do not have enough staff or sufficient food on the shelf, forcing them to operate in a four-day workweek.

Food banks need help

Our local food banks need our help big time! Besides monetary donations, peanut butter, canned food, pasta, and rice are among the popular items needed. Are you ready to help?

References:

Brooks, K.J. (2023, January 12). Egg prices have soared 60% in a year. Here’s why. CBS News. Available at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eggs-prices-2022-chicken-bird-flu-inflation-cpi/

Yang, M. (2022, December 23). Donations to food banks can’t keep up with rising costs. NPR.org. Available at https://www.npr.org/2022/12/22/1144097599/food-banks-nonprofits-inflation-economy-groceries-hunger-pantries-shelf

Note: This article was also published in Hospitality News Magazine.

Comments

Luxury vs. Millennials and Their Technology: The Ritz-Carlton (By Julia Shorr)

Embodying the finest luxury experience, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC has been established since 1983. In 1998, Marriott International purchased the brand offering it more opportunity for growth while being independently owned and operated. They are known for their enhanced service level as the motto states, “Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen”. The luxury brand now carries 97 hotels and resorts internationally and is attempting to keep the aspects of luxury while keeping up with the trends of the technologically improving generations. The Varying Demographics of the Target Market The Ritz-Carlton’s typical target market includes: business executives, corporate, leisure travelers, typically middle-aged persons and elders, and families from the upper and upper-middle class section of society . This infers a large range of types of travelers in which all are similar in that they are not opposed to spending extra for the luxurious ambiance. However, with

The challenges of SB 93 (California Senate Bill No. 93) will impose on the employers and their human resource management team (by Brittany Schaffer)

The COVID-19 pandemic started in early 2020, and it has caused massive changes within a short period of time. One of the most rememberable effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was that businesses had to come to a complete halt, forcing them to lay off employees. California's unemployment rates went up. Now that the stay-at-home orders have lifted, people start to come out. Businesses are now reopening, looking to rehire their laid-off employees. Before the pandemic, employers had the option of recalling only a certain number of laid-off employees they would want to rehire based on employees' job performance. That option had been changed after Governor Gavin Newsome signed into law - Senate Bill 93, which went into effect on April 16th, 2021. The California Senate Bill No. 93 (SB 93) According to SB 93, companies in specific industries, mainly the hospitality industry, have the obligation to provide job opportunities in written form to qualified employees being laid off due to COVI

Want to win in future competitions? Invest in data-driven decisions now

Speaking of the permanent changes in the hospitality industry, many people will probably agree that demands for “bleisure”/“work-from-anywhere” travel and contactless self-service will continue to grow in the near future. Not everyone, however, realizes that data-driven decisions will become a key driver for growth in the industry, which has already affected how we do business now. Automatic service enables businesses to capture more operational and consumer data for business decisions One advantage of using automatic service comes from its ability to spontaneously capture and store real-time operational and consumer data for additional analysis. In the old-time when businesses still relied on workers to serve customers, operational data were collected usually through careful book-keeping, documentations, and observations; consumer data through market research were often limited to their perceptions, behavioral intentions, or past experience. Now that automatic service is provi

Linchi Kwok, Ph.D.

Search This Blog