In early January, Oregon Freeze Dry, which owns backpacking food maker Mountain House, noticed online sales starting to pick up. Employees weren鈥檛 that surprised; they鈥檇 seen sales increase during the SARS outbreak in 2002 and during and after natural disasters, like hurricanes. But then, on January 30, after the World Health Organization declared a global emergency, sales spiked again. And last Tuesday, when the CDC told Americans that the coronavirus is a matter of , things went nuts.听
From February 19 to February听26, there was a 208.6 percent increase in transactions on the , compared to the week before. Year over year, February transactions are up 1,093 percent. 鈥淭his is different than things that we鈥檝e seen in the past,鈥 says Bruce Bechtel, director of marketing for Oregon Freeze Dry. Perhaps that鈥檚 because Americans don鈥檛 know what to expect鈥攁nd so many are expecting the worst.听
As of Wednesday, Costco, which sells packages听from Oregon Freeze Dry packaged to provide a year鈥檚 worth of food, removed the entire emergency meal category from its website. On Friday, Mountain House had听a note on saying that it was not taking new orders. So you may be wondering, if this is the apocalypse, can you at least wait out听the end times with the comfort of Mountain House鈥檚 freeze-dried mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches?
It turns out, it鈥檚 all going to be fine. Or, at least, the freeze-dried ice cream will be back soon.听 听
Bechtel explained the decision to take the company鈥檚听website offline this way: 鈥淢ore than anything, it was because the orders were coming in so fast. We were concerned about having our inventory correct because orders were coming from so many different directions.鈥
People are clearly panicking,听which is not good and probably unnecessary.听Experts say听听is probably fine. And if you鈥檙e worried听 about having something to eat on the Appalachian Trail this summer, Bechtel says not to.听
鈥淲e鈥檙e not out of stock, but we have gone into a mode where we鈥檙e making sure that we prioritize our long-term customers,鈥 says Bechtel. Oregon Freeze Dry has had standing relationships with Costco, REI, Walmart, Dick鈥檚, and other retailers for, in some cases, decades. Priority number one is ensuring those stores have products on their shelves. He adds that pulling the company鈥檚 website down was also, in part, a measure to prevent resale price gouging, 听with face masks.听
Backpackers have been a massive part of Oregon Freeze Dry鈥檚 customer base for years, and Bechtel says his company will not let them down. 鈥淲hen the time comes, and the sun comes out, and people want to get outside, we will make sure that we have the product for our partners, whether that鈥檚 Amazon or REI,鈥 he says. The good news is that the company always ramps up production for the April-to-July backpacking rush, so it actually had a jump on this. Even better, 鈥淲e鈥檙e in this unique situation coming into this that we had more inventory than we normally would because we鈥檙e right in the middle of transitioning our packaging,鈥 he says. Products with the new packaging are starting to hit shelves, but they鈥檒l likely release the remaining inventory with the 鈥渃lassic鈥 packaging shortly.听
If you need to purchase backpacking meals for a trip this weekend, his best suggestion is to call your local Walmart, REI, Dick鈥檚, or other outdoor retail shop. Right now, most have inventory, and he says more food is on the way. There are also some smaller startups doing dehydrated meals, which have inventory, and, you can always dehydrate your own using this handy guide.听
Finally, anyone听who is听planning听to price-gouge packets of beef stroganoff and pasta primavera is a jerk. And, they should know that nobody is going share their听freeze-dried ice cream with them if things get especially grim.听