Managing director Sam Prentice said the SPC Factory Sales outlet in Shepparton and Food Factory Sales outlets in Melbourne and Geelong had seen a dramatic spike in sales since SPC warned rising fuel prices would increase costs.
“Since the price rises were announced we’ve seen a real spike in sales and people who might normally buy a few cans have been buying cartons, they have been filling their trolleys up,” he said.
“They are trying to beat the price rise and stock up on their canned goods.”
SPC chairman Hussein Rifai, who has been in the food and consumables business since the 1980s, said the combination of rising prices for commodities and fuel, as well as supply chain issues due to the pandemic, would have an impact “across the board”.
“It is not just food, it will go into other commodities,” he said.
“Unfortunately, I think the impacts will be across the board.”
SPC is working to minimise the impact by looking for savings in the production process but has flagged price rises of in the 10 to 20 per cent range in coming months.
“I have not seen anything like this before, the negative perfect storm, in my lifetime,” Mr Rifai said.
Mr Prentice said for many people rising fuel costs had a real impact on their weekly budget and outlet businesses provided a way to reduce costs on many staples.
“Certainly during the pandemic, and it was about having enough food for lockdowns, we definitely saw canned goods come back into people’s minds,” he said.
“As a general rule, as we see groceries increase in price people are turning to outlets — you can reduce your grocery bill considerably.”
While baked beans are flying off the shelves in the wake of SPC’s commentary on pricing, Mr Prentice said the rush also extended to non-canned goods.
“People are buying everything else as well,” he said.
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