MADRID: At Cafe Comercial, one of the oldest cafes of Madrid are marble columns and decorative chandeliers drawing a tourist crowd and locals, a bottle of some popular drinks in short supplies.
“It’s hard to get delivery.
Gin brands, Tequila and certain whiskey are not possible,” Emblematic Cafe Manager, Raul Garcia, told AFP.
“The lack of shares affects famous international brands that we will never think of someday.” He is not alone.
Because of the supply chain problem caused by pandemic, bars and nightclubs throughout Spain have struggled to provide their shelves since the restrictions on Covid-19 in social life fully lifted last month.
It raises hacking in a country where social life is concentrated outside the home, and large groups often meet for tapas or dinner followed by round drinks.
“The shortcomings are not generalized, but are concentrated on several brands.
The problem is that this is a brand of very attached people,” said Roberto Ucelay, manager of Los Olivos Beach Resort in Tenerife, part of the Spanish Canary Islands.
Among the popular names affected were beefeater gin, absolute vodka and patron tequila.
The disadvantages caused by the global shipping crisis, triggered by the uptick in demand from China and the United States, which “affects all international trade”, the Spanish Association of Spirit makers, Espirituosos Espana, said in a statement.
Suppliers have struggled with a shortage of bottles and cardboard boxes needed to package alcohol, as well as lack of drivers, containers and trucks to send them.
“This is not a matter of product availability, it is a problem of shipping,” said a French Pernod Ricard spokesman, the world number two spirit maker.
Other European nations such as Britain have also been exposed to lack of alcohol, but in Spain problems are exacerbated by the pattern of state consumption, he said.
The bar and restaurant contributed almost half of all alcohol sales in Spain, compared to only one-fifth in France, where the supermarket contributed most of the sale, the spokesman said.
When the business was picked up in Spain after virus restrictions were removed, this more complicated supply chain “must wake up and run again” – a process that requires time, he said.
Daniel Mettear, analyst at the London Alcohol Industry Consultation in London IWSR, agreed, said Spanish supply systems were “fragmented and involved many players”, which added difficulties.
“Spain is a country in the world with most bars and restaurants per resident,” he said.
For months that restrictions on viruses in social life exist, bars reduce their orders and liquidate their alcohol stocks and need time to refill them now business has increased, he said.
“They have a long way,” he said.
The Spanish Association of Spirit Maker estimates that the problem will not last long, but with a busy Christmas holiday quickly approaching, business is worried.
UCelay, Los Olivos Beach Resort manager, said he had been told it would take six months to get several brands of champagne.
“It’s too long,” he said.
Vicente Pizcueta, spokesman for Noche de Espana, an association representing the nightclub sector, said the problem would continue “during the market no more fluid”.
“We have problems with certain brands, not with the type of alcohol.
Spain is an important spirit maker and has a brand that remains available in all categories,” he said.
“There is an alternative.”