The Pastoral and South Dubbo Tavern affected by nationwide potato shortage

Head chef at the Pastoral Hotel Nathan Sanders said they were experiencing a lot of scarcity since the chips they normally use have been put on hibernation by the company that makes them.

Their supplier has also cut down 20 varieties of their chip products to six, owing to the shortage.

"Sweet potato chips are also affected as well, hash browns, any potato products are very hard to get at the moment," Mr Sanders told the Daily Liberal.

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Mr Sanders got word of an upcoming potato shortage in June last year but it really began affecting them in the last two months.

"We're chopping and changing, not suppliers but lines of chips, so when we can't get one the supplier sends us another one," Mr Sanders said.

He also said many suppliers were now importing chips from Europe to cope with the national demand.

The Pastoral Hotel has bought a "heap" of stock which is being held by their supplier. Mr Sanders said they have about 90 days of supply left and that most people didn't "realise" there was a shortage.

Though he was hopeful, Mr Sanders could not tell when supply would return to normal.

Would chips be cut from the menu if things don't change?

"Hopefully not, if it gets to that, that might be an option," Mr Sanders said.

"Only other option is getting in potatoes and going old-fashioned, making the chips ourselves but they're never as good as the product from the suppliers."

He mentioned the lettuce shortage of 2022, and said they even had a problem sourcing corn for some time.

With rising cost of living, Mr Sanders said fuel prices had driven prices up for most products which would unfortunately start affecting their customers.

Jarrod Sunderland, head chef at South Dubbo Tavern also agreed it was "hard" at the moment as the pub also faced stock shortages from suppliers.

Over the last three months, he has been forced to order from Sydney suppliers instead of buying locally.

"Our local suppliers can't get stock, specially stuff like potato chips, [it's] a big one," Mr Sunderland said.

He expects the potato shortage to last until the end of this year as farmers would have to replenish produce.

"It'll probably be 12 months from what I can gather because they're supplying all of Australia. They've got to grow the potatoes, harvest them and then turn them into chips before they can get back up to their sock levels where it isn't a problem, while trying to supply everybody else at the same time," Mr Sunderland said.

"It's not going to happen over a couple of months period."

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