Submitted photo Danny Catullo, owner of Catullo Prime Meats and Perishable Shipping Solutions, said he “beefed up” staff at both businesses by 25 percent to handle the uptick in demand with the COVID-19 outbreak.

WARREN — It hasn’t been easy for grocery stores to keep ground beef, chicken breasts, pork chops, steaks, toilet paper and cleaning products on their shelves, creating what some shopkeepers are calling a “second Black Friday.”

While sales on some products are two to 10 times higher than usual, grocers said they can only keep stocking what their warehouses can supply — and the warehouses can only stock meat as it is inspected.

But, the state’s Department of Agriculture is keeping up with inspections, Shelby Croft, spokesperson for the department, said.

“Meat inspection is critical to the health and safety of Ohioans; therefore, it is continuing. Our meat inspection team remains at full staff and the frequency of inspections continues as usual. Inspectors are in every meat and poultry slaughter and processing operation every day they are open. ODA is operating within Gov. (Mike) DeWine’s orders and directives to slow the spread of COVID-19 and will continue to do so,” Croft stated in an email.

Harold Johnson Jr., a butcher at Klingemier’s Sparkle Market in Champion, said the store is doing all it can to keep the shelves stocked to “help everybody.”

“I have never seen anything like this. This is a first. We are doing what we can to bring meat in, but some of the meat warehouses are having trouble keeping stock,” Johnson said.

“Chuck roll” is one of the hardest meat products to keep on the shelves, but even the items that typically move slowly are being wiped out, grocers said.

“We sold about 1,000 pounds of frozen turkeys; we sold more than at Thanksgiving,” Johnson said.

Some of Johnson’s regular customers have expressed dismay with “panic buying.”

“There are shortages everywhere, in all of the warehouses. People are buying so much. If everyone shopped normally, we would be OK, we would have stuff on shelves and in the warehouse,” Johnson said. “It is a hard time for everyone, but it is one of those things we’re all going through together, and we will figure it all out.”

CRAZY DAYS

Tony Modarelli, owner of South Avenue Sparkle in Youngstown, described some of the days last week as “crazy.”

“I have never seen anything like this. People are buying anything they can cook or store,” Modarelli said. “The hardest thing to to keep on the shelves right now is ground beef, then pork and chicken — chicken more and more. We are only getting 35 to 40 percent of what we are ordering. It is a supply chain issue.”

In order to keep stock at its freshest, the warehouses usually only store what they know they can “turn,” Modarelli said. So, getting wiped out sooner than usual means the warehouses themselves have to wait for their shipments from suppliers who have to ramp up production, too.

Modarelli estimates the store is selling three to four times more in a two-week span than normal.

The rest of his store is selling more toilet paper, eggs, milk and bread than ever, he said.

“Everybody’s favorite — toilet paper– is the hardest to keep. It is very scarce. But we are finally getting trickles in,” Modarelli said.

During the uptick in shopping around the holidays, the stores prepare for the run on typical holiday supplies, he said.

“You prepare based on past history. But this was totally out of the blue,” Modarelli said.

DOUBLE RUSH

Danny Catullo has been experiencing the rush two-fold.

Owner of Catullo Prime Meats and Perishable Shipping Solutions, both in Youngstown, Catullo said his experience over the last few weeks has been “unprecedented.”

“I went to Ohio State and got a business degree and there wasn’t one class on how to deal with a pandemic. It is difficult to navigate these waters. I feel very lucky for my tremendous staff at the shop and at the logistics business. They are consistently rolling up their sleeves and dealing with big unknowns to keep the food cycle going, and to keep our local economy going,” Catullo said, adding that he “beefed up, pun intended, both staffs by 25 percent.”

While both of his businesses have been growing every year anyway, he said specialty shops and specialty shipping operations are growing as more and more vendors seek reliable specialty shipping for artisan products. Now, the surge has induced a record amount of growth in a typically slow season, Catullo said.

In the first few days of pandemic panic, people wiped out traditional grocery and big-box stores. After they were cleaned out, shoppers started seeking out specialty stores and then explored online options, Catullo said.

The vendors that use Catullo’s specialty shipping service, such as small brands and small batch companies — many of which offer organic, natural, dairy-free or organic options — have seen a “huge increase in orders,” Catullo said.

“One of the reasons gluten-free or no-dairy products are doing well online is because they are unique and don’t move fast, so grocery stores don’t give them a ton of space. So when there is a mass influx of people buying it up, they run out and people go to online options,” Catullo said. “Our frozen brands are keeping a well enough stock to keep up because they have a longer shelf life. But the more perishable goods with a shorter shelf life, they might have thought they had a four-week supply of something that turned to a one-week supply.”

His own shop is shipping 10 times more than it would have normally, Catullo said.

Catullo, Johnson and Modarelli said their workplaces are all following social distancing and sanitizing protocols, and monitoring employee health. And, they thanked their employees and co-workers for their hard work during these unprecedented times.

rfox@tribtoday.com