Greggs and Costa become latest chains to face food shortages due to supply issues

The latest wave of food shortages is now affecting Greggs and Costa with both companies reporting missing items. It comes as food chain issues are sweeping through the sector, only recently hitting McDonalds milkshakes. Greggs has said it was seeing "temporary interruptions" with the supply of some of its ingredients. But the bakery has refuted that it is experiencing a poultry shortage, contrary to reports that it’s much-loved chicken bake is in short supply. Greggs bosses have acknowledged that some shops have "occasionally" been short of certain stock. But the fast food chain has not confirmed the details of the affected products. Costa also said it was also experiencing some stock shortages and has apologised for inconvenience caused while items remain temporarily unavailable. This comes just two days after McDonalds reported all of it’s UK restaurants had run out of milkshakes. The burger chain was also left without bottled drinks across its 1,250 outlets in England, Scotland and Wales. The shortage at McDonald’s was reported after supply woes left Nando’s with no choice and was forced to shut around 50 restaurants amid a chicken shortage. Rival KFC also warned recently that supply chain issues meant it was unable to stock some menu items. Firms across a raft of sectors in the UK have been battling with a supply chain crisis due to a shortage of lorry drivers following post-Brexit EU immigration rules, Covid restrictions and self-isolation rules. The supply pressures have also been affecting supermarkets in recent weeks, while manufacturers have reported sharp increases in the prices of raw materials Business groups representing the retail and transport sectors have been calling for the government to review plans not to grant temporary work visas to drivers from the EU. A version of this article originally appeared on NationalWorld.