Small businesses worried about milk shortages after electrical issue at Saputo plant

Small markets and cafés in Calgary are worried about what milk shortages could mean for their businesses.

Grocery stores across Alberta are facing bare milk shelves as an unexpected electrical issue at an Edmonton dairy production facility temporarily impacted production and supply.

Saputo, the parent company of Dairyland, said on Monday its Edmonton facility experienced an “unexpected electrical issue” that “temporarily impacted production and supply.”

The issue was later resolved and operations resumed, but the company said some “temporary product shortages may still occur in the near term.”

“Based on current progress, we expect service levels to return to normal by the end of this week,” a statement from Saputo, Dairyland’s parent company, said.

With product shortages looming, some grocery stores have been limited how much milk customers can buy.

But some small businesses say they have been entirely unable to receive any new product from the company.

One of those stories is the Bridgeland Market. The store’s owner Yousef Treya says he received an email from Dairyland on July 15 saying his usual milk delivery wouldn’t arrive.

That missing shipment is significantly limiting his product.

“Our weekend milk was unavailable, so we had no way of finding any other milk because all our local suppliers take a week in advance to order. That comes in on Thursdays, so we were pretty much empty shelved,” Treya said.

“It’s put us behind the eight ball because we’re obviously a small business. We’re a local market, so if we don’t have milk, customers will go elsewhere and buy this stuff elsewhere.”

Treya said Dairyland has since told him he might get his milk delivery on his regular delivery days, but it’s still not certain.

That product uncertainty can be difficult for a small business to navigate, Treya said, as it’s always a challenge competing against larger corporations who can still access products through other avenues.

His business, meanwhile, has no other choice but to wait.

“The bigger corporations seem to always come on top of these things, and the little independents are always left holding the bag and empty shelves,” Treya said.

Dairyland expects production and supply to be back to normal by the end of the week, but other small businesses who rely on milk say it could create problems if they can’t access milk.

Those businesses include independent cafes, some of whom say they are concerned about their milk supply as the week progresses.

“It could be a possible worry for coffee shops because there will be obviously a supply disruption, which could mean it would be harder for us to make special espresso-based drinks involving milk,” said Kawa Espresso manager Astrud Lelis.

Lelis says Kawa Espresso uses around six four-litre jugs of milk a day, while Caffe Beano’s manager Emily Pohorelic says her shop can use up to 20 a day.

Both cafes say they buy their milk from grocery stores, and if there be a limit on how many you can buy, or a shortage, it likely wouldn’t be easy to manage.

“If it’s just two milk jugs (per customer), maybe only 20 lucky customers could get their usual cappuccinos or lattes,” Lelis said.

“It would mean my boss driving to all the grocery stores to find it,” Pohorelic added.

Saputo wouldn’t comment on how much milk was spoiled as a result of the electrical issue.

— With files from CTV’s Karyn Mulachy