Coronavirus: Aldi CEO Tom Daunt says groceries supply is not an issue if consumers calm down

Aldi CEO says shoppers will be surprised at how quickly things return to normal once people start buying more rationally.

Tom Daunt, the chief executive of the nation’s third biggest supermarket chain, Aldi, has implored shoppers to return to normal shopping behaviour by only buying what they need, pointing to the fact Australia has a world-class supply chain capable of feeding 75 million people if needed.

He decried the irrational and ill-informed behaviour of the last 10 days that has seen panicked buying strip the shelves of all major supermarket chains, including Aldi.

The buying frenzy has seen demand soar over levels normally experienced during seasonal spikes over Christmas or Easter, making it nearly impossible to restock the shelves each day.

“The enormous problems we have been trying to deal with over the last 10 days have got absolutely nothing to do with our capacity to provide every Australian in the country with enough food and groceries. It just has everything to do with a very ill-informed view, if you will, and then the irrational behaviour of customers thinking that there will be a problem in the future,’’ Mr Daunt told The Australian.

CEO of ALDI Australia Tom Daunt at the company’s Waterloo store in Sydney last year. Picture: Britta Campion

As Australians started losing jobs in the economic shock flowing from the global coronavirus pandemic, through developments such as Qantas’s decision to stand down 20,000 of its workers, Mr Daunt pledged the German grocery chain would hire significantly more staff to add to its 13,000-workforce spread across warehouses, logistics and its more than 500 shops.

Aldi and other supermarkets have been forced to limit purchases on some items. Picture: Dylan Robinson

Mr Daunt said shoppers needed to break with the irrational behaviour of the last fortnight. The buying panic has seen grocery items such as toilet paper, rice and meat stripped from the shelves, fights break out in the aisles and queues snake around the outside of stores. Australia had more than enough food and capacity to cope with any pandemic shock, he said.

‘So if people just buy what they need, respect others and our staff, honestly you will be shocked at how quickly things return to normal.’

Once shoppers behaved rationally, then stock would quickly start reappearing on the supermarket shelves.

“While I understand the short term panic, I can just only reassure Australians there is absolutely no basis for that panic, and it is making it very difficult for retailers of every kind – not only in grocery – just to simply keep up.

“We can scale up or down 30 per cent quite effectively, we routinely do so in seasonal times like Christmas, Easter, the AFL grand final and other times, and we are more than capable of handling that. But when volumes double or triple because of the irrational behaviour of customers, there’s not a grocery retailer in the world that is able to double or triple capacity overnight.

Hundreds of people line up for this mornings opening of Aldi in North Strathfield in Sydney. Picture: Dylan Robinson

“What we need is for that to be resolved is just for customers to resume their normal behaviour. If they trust what the government and every industry player like me is saying we do not have an issue with the availability of product we only have an issue with irrational behaviour.”

Mr Daunt’s comments mirror that of Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci and Coles CEO Steven Cain who have all called for calm.

“So if people just buy what they need, respect others and our staff, honestly you will be shocked at how quickly things return to normal,’’ Mr Daunt said.

Mr Daunt said Australia had world class grocery manufacturing and supply chain industries that could feed all Australians as well as export to the world, underlining the fact that we didn't have a supply problem in the current pandemic crisis.

Shelves stripped almost bare at Aldi’s store in North Strathfield in Sydney. Picture: Dylan Robinson

“I think it’s not even a message, it is the reality, really we in Australia we are very lucky because we have a world class supply chain we have world class producers of food and produce and we really have world class manufacturers of grocery items.

‘’The vast majority of grocery and food we sell in Australia is actually made and produced here. We just don't have a supply issue, there is more than enough, more than enough, food and groceries to go around. Australia produces enough food to feed 75 million people and have a very vibrant export market.’’