If you’ve had trouble finding an ice pack, you’re not alone. In recent weeks, customers have left their grocery store or convenience store empty-handed, so many are wondering if we will run out of them by the end of the summer.
Last weekend, The newspaper tried the experiment in several shops. In almost all cases, it was impossible to get ice.
“We’ve been trying to get some for several weeks, but it’s very difficult,” the manager of an IGA told us.
“For three weeks, we didn’t receive any bags. There, we have just received some, ”added the manager of a Metro, located in the north of the island of Montreal, yesterday afternoon.
In another business, a Couche-Tard, the freezer had been empty for more than a month.
“Customers want it, but we don’t get it,” lamented a manager.
The problem comes from the main producer and supplier of ice cream in Quebec, the American company Arctic Glacier, which holds 75 to 80% of the Quebec market.
Fiasco at Arctic Glacier
According to our information, the transfer of its activities between the former plant in Pointe-Saint-Charles and its new facilities in Dorval was poorly planned.
“It was really a fiasco. They didn’t do preventive storage and they dismantled their old factory when the other one wasn’t in operation,” a source told us.
Arctic Glacier did not want to answer our questions. But in English, the company said by email that its new factory will increase production.
“With the new capacity available, our Montreal consumers will experience fewer stock-outs at their favorite retailers,” assures Arctic Glacier, which has also experienced labor shortage issues.
Quebec players benefit
The ice cream producer even had to ask for help from a Quebec player, Glace Carnaval, to meet the demand.
“We have been working with them since the end of May. We packed for them all summer. Our production is currently operating 24/7,” said Alexandre Soucy, owner of the company, which mainly supplies the Hautes-Laurentides, Abitibi-Témiscamingue and the Chibougamau region.
Another independent producer and distributor, Les Marchands, is taking advantage of the current context. Due to the problems at Arctic Glacier, the SME with 10 employees saw a 12 to 15% increase in its contracts.
Photo Olivier Bourque
Conrad Pomerleau, co-owner of Les Marchands ice cream maker, has no shortage of customers.
“We have several people calling us. If the independents hadn’t been there, I think we would have run out of ice cream this year,” said Pierre-Olivier Prince, owner of the company founded in 2015.
Worse this year
The young leader also believes that all the smaller Quebec players have won customers over the past few months.
“Even last year, there were stockouts, at the same time, in the middle of a heat wave. But it’s worse this year,” he said.
However, the problems should ease in the coming weeks with the end of the warm temperatures and the drop in demand.