Chicken Shortage Forces New Bedford Market Basket Shoppers to Go Cold Turkey

Okay, here we go with another rotisserie chicken story.

Some of you may recall the piece I wrote last year about an elderly New Bedford widow who was told she couldn't use her food stamps to purchase a warm rotisserie chicken from the city's Market Basket store. The rules do not allow recipients to use food stamps to buy warm food. Had she waited until the chicken was a day old and cold, she could have had the bird.

Well, rotisserie chickens are back on my radar screen. My wife asked me to pick up one of the warm, pre-cooked rotisserie chickens at Market Basket after work the other day.

Search as I might, there were simply none in sight.

Get our free mobile app

The supply chain shortage resulting in dwindling stock on many store shelves was not the culprit this time. The foul weather prevented the shipment of chickens to market, and therefore to Market Basket – and not just rotisserie chickens, either. The entire poultry case looked as though it had been plucked nearly clean.

The supply shortage was visible elsewhere in the store, most notably in the pet food aisle, where cans of cat food seemed to be in short supply. I witnessed the same problem at the Fairhaven Stop & Shop on Friday. Do you think Fluffy would settle for a box of tissues instead of a can of Salmon Delight?

I was happy to note that the toilet paper aisle appeared to be fully stocked. There is still no evidence of a repeat of the toilet paper shortage of 2020, and that's a good thing. I bought some anyway.

What is it like where you shop? Are you seeing empty shelves? Is it hard to find the things you need? Share some photos of what you see with us on our app.