By Eleanor Wilson
A Cranbourne fish and chips shop owner is going the extra mile to ensure his customers don’t go without their beloved potato chips and dim sims, amid the potato and cabbage shortage currently afflicting the nation.
Flooding and wet weather has significantly impacted potato yield for Australian farmers in recent months, causing suppliers to impose limits on potato products.
Owner of Camms Rd Fish and Chips, Phillip Lim, said he began to face problems in December, with suppliers significantly decreasing their supply capabilities due to the ongoing shortage.
“A lot of businesses are struggling to find new suppliers, because suppliers can only take small orders and some aren’t taking on new clients at all,”he said.
“Every single business is just taking what they can get right now… some businesses have had to cut off large and medium sized chip orders and only giving small sized boxes.“
In an effort to fix the problem, Mr Lim began widening his supplier catch net, spending hours searching for new suppliers across Melbourne to satisfy his customer’s spud cravings.
He is currently purchasing stock from more than half a dozen different suppliers, one of which requires him to drive to 45 minutes each way to collect.
But the extra work is not a selfish feat for Mr Lim, who put a call out on Facebook notifying fellow businesses that he was willing to lend a helping hand to fill their freezers.
“I pretty much just explained that I don’t have an issue with supply, because I’m doing all of this extra work, and I’m happy to help out any businesses that are struggling with the shortages at the moment by providing them stock,“ he said.
“I’m more than happy to help, because I don’t want other businesses doing it tough, at the end of the day we all have to pay the bills.“
One of those business owners is Akanshka Prasher, who owns a kid’s play centre and cafe in Carrum Downs, where party food is a large part of her business.
Ms Prasher said she was recently almost forced to shut down her business, Lollipop Playland and Cafe, due to the lack of supply.
“We did get a warning that we might run out of supply but we weren’t expecting it to be this bad,” she said.
“I haven’t received anything from my two regular suppliers for two months.”
“It was terrible, I’m struggling and I have to call so many people every morning to try to find chips.”
Ms Prasher said she reached out to Mr Lim for a helping hand after seeing his post on Facebook several weeks ago.
“He tries to organise chips for me and if he’s running out of dim sims, I check my supply to help him out,” she said.
“It was such a good gesture from his end. I really appreciate it because nobody wants to shut their business for such a reason, but we didn’t have any choice and it could have happened if we didn’t find a solution.“
Ms Prasher said her suppliers have intimated supply should improve between March to May.
Until then, Mr Lim plans to continue chasing chip and dim sim supplies wherever he can find them.
“For local businesses right now, if you want to be fully supplied, you have to put in a lot of extra work,“ he said.
“It’s a lot of networking, talking to different suppliers, driving to get stock… and that’s on top of my normal workload.
