Park Slope business owner stocks up on items to stay ahead of supply chain shortages

A Park Slope business owner took matters into his own hands to stock up months ago ahead of the supply chain shortage.
Miro Gal is used to having all his ducks in a row. Running Bricolage French Vietnamese Gastropub is a full-time job and having things run seamlessly often has to do with the products needed to make a restaurant operate, from the food, to the silverware and cleaning products. But when those product shipments started slowing down, he did some research and knew he needed to stock up before things got worse.
"I spoke with the vendors and they told me that they're beginning to feel the shortages," Gal says. "I will get the material and the product 6 or 7 months ahead."
He turned not only the basement of his restaurant into a storage space but also the basement of his own home.
"We maximized on the storage space over here and now we are maximizing on the storage space in my house," Gal says. "I decided to be pro-active and start storing products that we will need 6, 8, 10 months ahead."
The shortages really hit hard.
Gal even consulted with head chef, Emiliano Gonzalez, whose been running the kitchen 25 years serving French-Vietnamese cuisine and due to these shortages they had to remove some dishes from their menu.
"I also purchased a couple of freezers so that the chef is able to order frozen products," Gal says.
The shortages, in turn, also caused prices to rise.
"Right now, for some products, we are paying 50% more, some products, we are paying 100% more," Gal says.
For now, Gal will continue to stock up at least 6 months in advance on non-perishable items and will freeze some food that he can. He says it's better to be safe rather than sorry.