Pizza shops across the U.S. facing a pepperoni shortage

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SHREVEPORT, LA - JUNE 29: A view of a Pepperoni hand tossed pizza at Pizza Hut on June 29, 2018 in Shreveport, Louisiana. (Photo by Shannon O'Hara/Getty Images for Pizza Hut)

Business at pizza shops across the nation may be up as people stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic order out night after night, but the supply of America’s favorite topping, pepperoni, is beginning to dwindle.

According to Bloomberg, small pizza shops across the nation are reporting higher prices for the delicious salami, with one shop in New York reportedly paying $6 a pound, up from $4 earlier this year.

Earlier in the pandemic, restaurants had reportedly experienced high prices and shortages for other meat toppings like ground beef, but while prices for beef have come back down, pepperoni prices have remained high.

Chain restaurants struggling during pandemic

It might be harder to muster sympathy for national chain restaurants during the coronavirus pandemic, but those companies are struggling as well, along with their thousands of employees.

Barry Friends, a partner at foodservice consultant Pentallect, told Bloomberg that some meatpacking facilities have decided that the labor-intensive process of making pepperoni just isn’t worth its low profit margins.

Nevertheless, so far restaurants haven’t changed their prices.

“It’s an American right to have pepperoni on pizza,” Matthew Hyland, Chef and co-owner of pizza shop Emily in New York City told Bloomberg. “Pepperoni is such a huge part of pizza it’s important to us that we keep it accessible.”