• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » That Cream Cheese Shortage You Heard About? Cyberattacks Played a Part

That Cream Cheese Shortage You Heard About? Cyberattacks Played a Part

bagel
A bagel with cream cheese rests on a tray. Photo: Getty Images.
December 22, 2021
Bloomberg

The cream cheese shortage wreaking havoc on bagel shops and bakeries is, in part, due to a cyberattack on the biggest U.S. cheese manufacturer.

Schreiber Foods in Wisconsin, which makes cheese slices for most of the top burger chains in America and has a cream cheese business rivaling Kraft’s, closed for days in October after hackers compromised its plants and distribution centers. While that may not sound like a long time, the company is big enough that the lost production shook U.S. markets.

Making the situation worse, the shutdown occurred at the height of cream cheese demand. Americans are doing more holiday baking and buying more cakes, and cream cheese is a common dessert ingredient. People are still working and eating breakfast at home, so they’re buying more cream cheese from grocery stores for their morning bagels. Add to that all the labor constraints and logistics headaches caused by the pandemic, and the fact that cream cheese is fresh, so there aren’t huge reserves. There just hasn't been enough schmear to go around.

“All this together has aggravated the cream cheese situation in the country,” said Emma Aer, chief executive officer of competing cream cheese producer Franklin Foods. “We just can’t keep up with the demand.”

Cyberattacks have added to the chaos afflicting global food supply chains in the Covid-19 era, with inflation driving prices to around decade highs. Hackers also targeted meat giant JBS SA and an Iowa grain cooperative this year.

Cream cheese happens to be particularly vulnerable to the supply chain issues. Some manufacturers have had problems getting starch, a thickening agent used in cream cheese, as well as packaging like plastic film and cardboard boxes, according to Andrew Novakovic, an agricultural economist at Cornell University. Cream cheese is a fresh product, meaning that keeping a large inventory on hand isn’t plausible. On top of the widespread labor shortage across industries, finding truck drivers is hitting the dairy industry particularly hard because of the extra license needed to pick up milk from farms, Novakovic said.

Meanwhile, demand keeps soaring. Schreiber Foods was running at full capacity at the time of the cyberattack. Though the company was able to get its plants back up and running within days, the event did impact production, and high demand for cream cheese hasn’t changed, a spokesperson for Schreiber said in an email. Cream cheese production in October fell 6.9% from a year ago, according to government data. 

At-home cream cheese consumption is up 18% compared to 2019, and foodservice demand in November was up 75% compared to last year, said Kathy Krenger, spokesperson for Kraft Heinz.

“We are maximizing our production to meet the unprecedented demand,” she said in an email. 

For the first time in 71 years of business, Junior’s Cheesecake in New York City ran out of cream cheese. The business closed down its baking for a day and a half to drive from the New York area to Philadelphia to pick up cream cheese, rather than wait for delivery.

“Without it we can’t make a cheesecake,” owner Alan Rosen said in a phone interview. “There’s no substitute.”

Rosen said demand is increasing even more than usual in the company’s busiest season as people look for comfort food in the pandemic. The company, which bakes about 5 million cakes a year using 4 million pounds of cream cheese, is seeing its grocery business increase across the board and is up 43% year to date in wholesale.

“Bagels on a Sunday with a schmear is one thing, but Christmas without cheesecake is another,” Rosen said.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain) Technology Supply Chain Security & Risk Mgmt Food & Beverage Retail
  • Related Articles

    Do You Have a Stable Supplier Base? Are You Sure About That?

    You Need System That Tells You When Suppliers Are About to Go Under

    Often It's Your Supplier's Supplier That You Have to Worry About

Bloomberg

Germany to Introduce Cheap Nationwide Public Transport From May

More from this author

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • A PERSON HOLDS UP A TABLET COMPUTER IN A WAREHOUSE, SUPER-IMPOSED BY A GRAPHIC SHOWING A COMPLEX WEB OF SUPPLY CHAIN ELEMENTS

    Three Post-Pandemic Actions for Repairing Global Supply Chains

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • A MAN IN A SUIT SHAKES HANDS WITH A WOMAN IN A HARD HAT, NEXT TO A STACK OF CONTAINERS

    Three Procurement Technology Evolutions for 2023

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
  • DOCUMENTS BEARING THE INSIGNIA OF US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION LIE ON A TABLE

    New CBP Regs Call for Greater Diligence by Brokers in Reporting Security Breaches

    Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
  • The blank stare of a child's eye who is standing behind what appears to be a wooden frame

    The Alarming Continued Rise of Modern Slavery in Supply Chains: How Procurement Can Help Reverse the Trend

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
  • A GROUP OF WORKERS RANGED IN AN OFFICE, OF DIVERSE RACE, GENDER, AGE AND PHYSICAL ABILITY

    Podcast | The Supply Chain Workforce of the Future Is Already Here

    HR & Labor Management

Digital Edition

Scb nov 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Infor Inmar Keelvar
Kinaxis Korber Lean Solutions Group 2H
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems MCA Connect
MPO Nvidia Old Dominion
OpenText ORTEC Overhaul
Parsyl PMMI QIMA
Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics
Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD
Shipwell Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing