COVID related impacts on the food distribution chain coupled with reintroduction of school feeding in the fall may result in shortages.  Distributors and managers of school cafeterias are planning for the new semester.  Hiring experienced workers will be a restraint including cooks and cafeteria workers who have left the workforce or obtained alternative employment. Suppliers are facing non-availability of delivery drivers. Food manufacturing and processing plants are experiencing difficulty in recruiting and training new workers. US Foods Holding Corp, Sodexo and J.M. Smucker Company are bracing for orders in the face of rising labor and transportation costs.

Possible adaptations to the situation include reducing menu items, stockpiling available non-perishable foods in anticipation of the fall semester and school systems combining to form purchasing cooperatives.