Produce distributors in Arkansas are feeling the effects of a tomato shortage just like those across the United States. A hard freeze in Florida knocked out the majority of the tomato crop. Now tomatoes are scarce and the ones are available cost a lot more. That cost is expected to trickle down to you.
"It's like the gas market, when it moves, it moves you got to move with it or lose," says Tony Rush with Little Rock Tomato.
Right now the wholesale produce company is losing. Thanks to a hard freeze their tomato suppliers in Florida don't have the product. The tomatoes now are from Mexico, they take longer to get and with high demand there's not enough to go around.
"We're just not bringing in as many as we normally would bring. We may bring two to three truck loads a week right now we're bringing in one."
To show you how much this tomato shortage is affecting Little Rock Tomato, a room that's usually jam-packed full of tomatoes is half empty and they have several other rooms that are completely empty.
Tomatoes cost a lot more to bring in. Little Rock Tomato used to get them for as low as $6.00 a box, now the price can go to upwards of $40.00. They pass that cost on to customers which is bad for business.
"You see a whole lot less being bought, people are just buying exactly what they need for the day," says Rush.
At restaurants like Wendy's, tomatoes don't come standard any more, if you want them on your burger you better ask and they're yours while they last. It'll probably be about a month before tomatoes start coming out of Florida again.
