Staff Photo by Allison Carter/Chattanooga Times Free Press
Mojo Burrito hand mixes their pico de gallo. Recently prices for tomatoes have increased and businesses like Mojo Burrito have felt the impact.A cold snap earlier this year in the farming areas of Mexico, Florida, California and Texas is affecting the produce supply and price for local restaurants, grocers and distributors.
At Mojo Burrito in East Brainerd, where it’s not uncommon to go through a couple of 25-pound cases of tomatoes a day, the produce shortage is making a dent in the restaurant’s bottom line.
Jason Gill, general manager for the East Brainerd location, said cases of tomatoes that once were between $12 and $15 each now cost close to $50.
“It has caused a lot of problems,” he said. “We’ve had to send a lot back and even put them out in the sun to ripen. Being as tomatoes are a big part of our menu, we’ve just kind of had to keep our portions level and monitor our waste rather than taking them off our menu because they’re a major part of just about everything on our menu.”
Avocados also have been in short supply for the burrito restaurant, with some of the locations going without guacamole for a day or two because they haven’t been available, he said. The shortages have been going on for the past month locally.