By Tricia Pursell
LEWISBURG — Valley restaurateurs who use tomatoes in their recipes are feeling the effect of a cold winter in Florida.
The Sunshine State, the main source of fresh winter tomatoes in the United States, lost approximately 70 percent of its crop this year in one of the longest and coldest Januarys on record in Florida.
Vito Mazzamuto, owner of three Union County establishments — La Primavera in Lewisburg, Royal Burger and OIP in Mifflinburg — said vine ripe Roma tomatoes, normally $15 for a 25-pound case, are now $27.
Grape tomatoes used in salads are $40 for 12 pints as compared with the usual cost of $14 to $20.
And regular tomatoes, like one would find in a grocery story, are $42 for a 25-pound case, instead of the usual $15 to $20, Mazzamuto said.
Mazzamuto uses 20 to 30 cases of tomatoes each week in his establishments.
So when the price of tomatoes doubled, he had to find a way to take the loss.
“There’s not much we can do,” he said. “You can’t change things (on the menu). People expect it.”
Raising prices is also not an option, he said, if he wants customers to keep coming back.
“We just have to deal,” he said.
It’s not the first time his restaurant had to be flexible. Last year, the price of lettuce increased when its availability decreased, Mazzamuto said.
Florida’s next crop isn’t expected to begin until April.
According to Dennis Curtin, spokesman for Weis Markets Inc., tomato prices are also being affected because of heavy rain in Mexico — another large producer of the crop. The country is at the end of its growing season.
For Weis customers, the lack of supply translates to about a $1 more a pound.
Giant Food Stores have taken tomatoes out of its weekly circular, said Chris Brand, community relations manager for the corporation.
“Just in anticipation of the fact that demand is so high,” he explained.
But that doesn’t mean customers won’t find them on the shelves.
Curtin said he expects the supply to return to normal levels around the end of April, at the earliest.
Brand agreed.
“In the next few weeks or so, Florida is replanting,” he said. “Probably in April we’ll see a leveling of prices coming back our way. Conditions are favorable for the next planting round, and we should be able to see these fresh tomatoes come our way soon.”
Meanwhile, local restaurants are weathering the storm.
Vinnie Picciurro, owner of a pizza and sub shop in Middleburg, has been purchasing only one case of tomatoes a week, rather than the two or three that he previously did, in order to keep costs low.
“If I run out, I run out,” he said simply.
So far, however, that hasn’t happened. He now uses the less expensive grape tomatoes as a substitute for regular-sized ones, which have tripled their cost.
“If it keeps going,” he said, “I might not put tomatoes in at all.” Or, he said, he may be forced to raise prices.
An employee at Marlin’s Sub Shop in Sunbury said though they are paying double the price for tomatoes, they are continuing with business as usual.
“It hasn’t affected us at all,” she said. “We’re still using them pretty much how we have.”
n E-mail comments to tpursell@dailyitem.com
