Ex-Sainsbury’s boss warns of labour shortages amid coronavirus outbreak

Former Sainsbury’s chief executive and current non-executive director at Marks and Spencers, Justin King, has warned that supermarkets need to be “prepared” for a shortage of labour amid the outbreak of the coronavirus.

According to Sky News, King said supermarkets are facing a “greater challenge than coronavirus-related panic buying”.

Speaking to Sky’s Ian King Live programme, he said labour is the “first thing [to worry about]”, as many fresh food production systems are dependant on labour on a day-to-day basis.

His warning follows the launch of the government’s ‘feed the nation’ scheme last week, which aims to reduce the increased stockpiling efforts amid the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The plans require grocers to work with supply chains to reduce the variety of groceries available.

King said: “You’re going to get empty shelves – in this case, toilet roll – if a relatively small number of customers rock up and buy a month’s worth of supply.

“There isn’t much back-up stock in any supermarket in the country, but there is plenty of back-up stock in the system – it just takes time for that to refill. I think, to coin a phrase, supermarkets are still in ‘don’t panic’ mode.”