In the middle of the shelf dedicated to gins in the El Estribo cocktail bar, in the Retiro district, there has been a hole for a long time.
José Andrés, the owner, tries to hide it by gathering the rest of the bottles of different brands -Nordés, Mombasa, Gin Mare …-, but there is one, the favorite among many of his customers, that can no longer serve.
“Three weeks ago the distributor told us that there was going to be a shortage of product. And so it was. Seagram’s has not come to us for two weeks, we have not. Then we ran out of Absolut Vodka and today we can no longer order Beefeater “, regrets the owner of the premises, who has started to offer Japanese gin.
“They tell us that they are products that come from the United Kingdom and that with the transport crisis and Brexit, merchandise will not come from there,” he assured yesterday mid-afternoon while placing the tables and chairs of the premises, that one night any of the week is to burst. All hoteliers recognize it. They haven’t seen anything like it since pre-Covid times. “People are crazy to go out and drink,” says a restaurant entrepreneur.
The complaint of a lack of product has spread like wildfire in the Madrid hospitality industry in recent days, at the gates of the best selling time of the year, Christmas. Although it really is a national problem. From ‘Spain at night’, the patronal of nightlife, they show their concern about this principle of lack of supply and for this reason they have commissioned this week a study throughout the country to find out the seriousness of the problem.
“It is that Christmas is coming, but there is also Halloween in nothing,” warns Vicente Pizcueta, spokesman for the employer.
According to various sources in the hospitality sector, the main distributors point to several factors for the lack of product: the crisis of raw materials, which affects glass, cardboard for packaging and corks for stoppers; Brexit, which has notably hampered the transit of goods between the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, added to the crisis in maritime transport; and that China and the US have increased the demand for certain products, such as champagne, which is also suffering from shortages.
Another reason has been “the brutal” increase in consumption. Commercial sources of the hotel industry point out that in the Puente del Pilar “the sale of alcohol grew by 150%” in Madrid.
Although there are several triggers for the current situation, one of them reverts to be the crisis of raw materials, which it affects a sector again after doing it with the automobile sector, due to the lack of microchips; that of the toy, due to the scarcity of plastic; or that of livestock, due to the increase in feed prices.
At Lavinia España, the most internationally famous Spanish wine store, which is also the most reputable in the champagne sector -they have more than 200 references-, they predict that there will be a relative affectation. “A certain shortage of products is anticipated in large houses. This can be a splendid occasion for those who are used to drinking champagne from well-known brands to be encouraged to discover sparkling wines from small producers, which offer great value for money. “, says Juan Manuel Bellver, director of Lavinia Spain.
According to experts in the sector, this year there has been a bad harvest for champagne, which added to the fact that the US is importing much more than other years, paying better prices than the rest of Europe, invites us to think that this Christmas it will be difficult to find the big brands such as Dom Perignon, Moët & Chandon, Mercier, Krug, Ruinart and Veuve Clicquot, which curiously are owned by the same company: Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy.
Another big problem that bars are finding is the lack of certain tequilas. “Apparently there is a problem with the agave. It will take more time to solve for more merchandise to come, but for the rest of the drinks I hope a solution will be found soon. With Tanqueray we are having many problems “, comments Carlos Moreno, bartender and owner of Charly’s Bar.
“Since I don’t have Seagram’s, which is sold out even in supermarkets, we are serving MG, which is more bitter. People are asking for Tanqueray and soon it will end as well, “says León, owner of the legendary Horacio bar in the Plaza de las Comendadoras.
The most affected
At Pernod Ricard, the distributor of Absolut, Beefeater or Seagram’s, among others, which, according to many hoteliers, is the spirits delivery company with the most problems, do not provide data on the lack of product. A spokeswoman consulted on Thursday by this newspaper sent any comment to the Spanish Federation of Spirits, where they are still analyzing what is happening. “We have to talk to the brands to find out what their real situation is. ”
Meanwhile, the hoteliers suspect that a “complicated” time is coming, just now that they were beginning to raise their heads.
“Look, I haven’t had a single bottle of Absolut Vodka in two months, and of champagne and tequila I won’t even tell you, they tell us there are no bottles, which is due to a problem with the glass. “ Who speaks is a first-rate hotelier, with more than 20 establishments throughout Spain that employ 300 people, and that heralds that the “perfect storm” is approaching for the hotel industry, which also assumes the brutal rise of light in its own flesh.
The tip of the iceberg
“This is just the tip of the iceberg; the consumer will have to pay much more because we must add to all this the brutal rise in electricity“says the businessman, who is told by the distributors that they cannot send, for example, Mumm champagne, also distributed by Pernod Ricard,” because there is no glass. “” There is no glass in the area where it is produced, “he shows. his astonishment, “it’s as if there were no bottles for wine in the Ribera del Duero. You still order 20 boxes of champagne and they bring you one. It is all for the Chinese, who during the crisis have stockpiled all the raw materials, “he assures.
José is a medium-sized distributor in the capital and ensures that, although he still has some existence of the brands with problems, try to ration them among all your customers waiting for the miracle before Christmas. “I have problems with Tanqueray, with Tequila … Maybe you ask for 10 pales and they bring you one, so when the innkeeper asks me for 60 bottles I give them 20,” he says, also confirming that Absolut has broken stock.
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Workers from Varma, another of the large distributors, representing Barceló, Hendrick’s and Glenfiddich, point out that they also notice problems due to the lack of raw materials, but they assure that they only ran out of Hendrick’s stock for “a week” due to the exorbitant consumption after the pandemic. “We are selling 30% more. Consumption is brutal and it is something that nobody could have foreseen,” says Gerardo, a commercial for the firm.
Meanwhile, other large distributors such as Maxiuum, which distributes Larios, Brugal, DYC and Centenario, they are not having supply problems because their production is national. All eyes are on them because they can be the great beneficiaries of what happens.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com