<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:14pt;color:#0000bf;">
<div id="header">
<h1><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/"><img src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/site/printlogo.jpg" alt="ABC News" border="0"></a></h1>
</div>
<div id="content">
<h2 id="headline">Americans Paying More for Produce After January Freeze Hurts Florida Crop</h2>
<h3 id="dek">Restaurants and Grocery Stores See Red Over Tomato Shortage</h3>
<h4 id="byline">By STEVE OSUNSAMI</h4>
<p>
<strong>Feb. 24, 2010—</strong>
</p>
<p>
</p><p>
In restaurants, grocery stores and on kitchen tables, Americans are
feeling the effects of Florida's freakish cold weather. It has sent the
price of tomatoes soaring.
</p><p>
The problem started in mid-January, when a <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9535106" target="external">record freeze</a>
wiped out nearly 80 percent of the state's tomato crop. The weather has
stayed cold, and central Florida could see temperatures dip back into
the 30s Thursday.
</p><p>
This week, businesses across the food industry started running out of tomatoes. At some <a href="http://www.bk.com/" target="external">Burger King</a>
restaurants across the country, you can still get your burger "your
way" with onion and pickles, but tomatoes might be temporarily
unavailable.
</p><p>
In a statement to ABC News, Burger King suggested it may skip tomatoes if they aren't good enough.
</p><p>Burger King's Senior Analyst of Communications, Denise Wilson
wrote, "There have been some spot outages of tomatoes in the Burger
King system as a result of the severe weather conditions that recently
affected tomato crops in the Southeastern U.S. We are working with our
suppliers and distributors to closely monitor the situation and
minimize these outages. We will continuously resupply Burger King
restaurants with tomatoes that meet our standards as they become
available. Our guests are being notified of temporary outages by
signage in the individual restaurants."
</p><p>
</p><h3>Florida Shortage Causes Companies to Import Tomatoes</h3>
<p>For restaurants and grocery stores eager to keep their shelves
stocked, managers have to look for them outside the United States.
</p><p>"The price of tomatoes is going up right now because we are
shipping product from Mexico," said Brenda Reid, a public relations
employee for <a href="http://www.publix.com/" target="external">Publix</a>, the large supermarket chain with stores located across the South.
</p><p>
Since the January freeze, vegetable prices have doubled, even as the
vegetables have gotten smaller. Typical of the price shift, was the
doubling of cost of tomatoes at the West Side Market in New York City.
Customers are now paying $1.89 a pound for tomatoes that were just
$0.99 per pound a month ago. In the last week alone, prices have risen
by $0.60 a pound.
</p><p>
Tomatoes <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9493782" target="external">aren't the only produce affected</a>
-- peppers, green beans, strawberries, squash and eggplant crops are
all having problems. Customers complain the produce is either too ripe
or not ripe enough.
</p><p>
</p><h3>Small Businesses Stung by Higher Produce Costs</h3>
<p>While the produce shortage has hit big chains like Burger King, it's
also hurting small businesses, including Bonnie Bambinelli's small
Italian restaurant north of Atlanta.
</p><p>"It was $19 a case, and now it's $39 a case," Bambinelli told
ABC News. "It's a big difference for us 'cause we go through a lot of
tomatoes."
<!-- page -->It's important to Bambinelli that her restaurant patrons
aren't disappointed with the food. "When they come to the register and
say, 'Bonnie, my tomato was orange,' I can't let that happen. They have
to say they loved it."
</p><p>
Her suppliers tell her the outlook isn't good -- the shortages could last for at least another two months.
</p><p>
</p>
</div>
<div id="footer">
<p>Copyright © 2010 ABC News Internet Ventures</p>
</div>
<!-- SiteCatalyst code version: H.15.1 Copyright 1997-2007 Omniture, Inc. More info available at http://www.omniture.com -->
<script language="JavaScript">
var s_account = "wdgnewabcnews,wdgasec";
</script>
<script language="JavaScript" src="http://a.abcnews.com/assets/js/s_code.js"></script>
<script language="JavaScript"><!--
s_omni.pageName = "abcn:fn_print"; //content name
s_omni.pageURL = ""; //content url
s_omni.pageType = ""; //page type
s_omni.server = window.document.location.hostname; //reporting domain
s_omni.prop4 = "story_print"; //content type
s_omni.prop1 = "abcn"; //site name
s_omni.channel = "abcn:"; //level1
s_omni.prop5 = ""; //level2
s_omni.prop6 = ""; //content alternate section
s_omni.prop13 = "by steve osunsami"; //columnist
s_omni.prop16 = ""; //source
s_omni.prop18 = "9930975:wn_osunsami_tomatoes_100224"; //content id:content name
s_omni.prop24 = "9930975" //top story
s_omni.prop25 = ""; //top video
s_omni.prop26 = ""; //top slideshow
s_omni.hier1 = "abcn"; //directory structure
s_omni.eVar16 = s_omni.pageName; //content name conversion
s_omni.eVar17 = s_omni.prop4+":"+s_omni.channel;
var s_code=s_omni.t();if(s_code)document.write(s_code)
//-->
</script>
<!-- End SiteCatalyst code version: H.15.1 -->
<div> </div><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: bookman old style,new york,times,serif; color: rgb(192, 0, 0);">Lawrence A. Parker</span><img alt=""><br><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Executive Director</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The Akron Cooperative</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">234-525-0543</span><br><span><a target="_blank" href="http://www.akroncooperative.com/">http://www.akroncooperative.com/</a></span><br><br style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 127, 64); font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.</span><div><br></div>
</div><br>
</body></html>