SA restaurants and eateries find creative way around lettuce shortage

SA salad producers say the rocketing prices could be here for months – but local eateries aren’t too bitter. Lettuce look at their creative ways around the food crisis.

It’s crunch time for Adelaide’s cafes and takeaway joints as the escalating cost of lettuce and shortages of other leafy greens forces venues to look to crisp alternatives.

Semaphore’s Barry’s Burgers is taking a leaf out of fast food giant KFC’s book, announcing it will be switching lettuce and rocket leaves, which appear throughout its menu, for a coleslaw alternative.

Co-owner Remi Paudel said he hasn’t been able to obtain rocket from his usual supplier for a month.

“It’s been crazy, we’ve literally had lettuce for $10 a head,” Mr Paudel said. “And for rocket, we went to 10 different fruit and veg shops today and none of them had it.

“We’ll have to switch with coleslaw, which we make in-house, with green cabbage, red cabbage and carrots.”

Co-owner of Barry’s Burgers, Rami Paudel with a Staunch Burger, which usually has rocket but now has coleslaw in it. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Naomi Jellicoe

It’s not the first time Barry’s has had to adapt its menu as a result of supply issues.

“Two years ago the same thing happened with Queensland flooding,” he said. “We switched over to mixed lettuce and this lady called us and started abusing us … some people go pretty crazy. But we do our best.”

Flooding in Queensland and particularly wet weather in other regions, along with cost increases for fertiliser and fuel are major factors in iceberg lettuce prices rising to above $5 in supermarkets – and in some extreme cases up to $12.

KFC announced earlier this month that it would be switching lettuce in its burgers for a lettuce-cabbage blend. Fellow fast food chain Oporto also recently announced it would follow suit.

Lunchtime favourite bun bowls are also under threat: contemporary Vietnamese takeaway chain, Soonta, said, “if there continues to be shortages and pricing up, it will force us to find a replacement”.

However, some local burger joints are determined not to lose their heads. Fudd’s in Aberfoyle Park said they would “continue to absorb the increase and offer only the best product for as long as we possibly can”.