Zabar's is low. The bagels are down to sticks. Pick-a-Bagel has a few days left.
Bagel makers in New York City say that a shortage of schmear is threatening one of the most beloved local delicacies: a fresh bagel with cream cheese.
This is not good. The Pick-a-Bagel chain has several Manhattan locations. Mr. Aguilar said he had only enough cream cheese to last until Monday.
Nick Patta, who has worked at Absolute Bagels on the Upper West Side for 11 years, said his usual supplier in Queens had run out of the shop's go-to cream cheese brand for the first time.
He said the shelves were empty.
Supply chain issues have plagued the United States for months, causing scarcities of everything from cars to running shoes. People in Alaska are having a hard time getting winter coats.
New York's bagel vendors are starting to feel the effects of a sudden and surprising development that has left them scrambling to find and keep as much cream cheese as they can.
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The general manager of Zabar's estimated on Friday that he had enough to last 10 days.
Mr. Goldshine said thatgging was one of his plans and that he had called about eight distributors recently. Let them call me if they have it.
Bagel sellers in New York buy thousands of pounds of cream cheese every few weeks. The recipe for the beloved spread is fairly simple, and was originated in New York in the 1870s. Philadelphia cream cheese is a brand of cheese that arrives on huge pallets.
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A smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel is being prepared. A large cream cheese order was supposed to arrive on Friday, but it didn't.
The raw product that comes to bagel shops is unwhipped and not filled with Philadelphia cream cheese found on most grocery store shelves. The spreads will not taste or feel the same without that base, and customers will notice.
The cream cheese orders that dairy suppliers have placed with manufacturers have come up short.
The owner of F&H Dairies in Brooklyn said he has never been out of cream cheese for 30 years. There is no end in sight.
In interviews with owners and workers at about 20 bagel shops and delis across the city, many said they were frustrated and rushed to find cream cheese after learning about the shortage in the past few days.
Mr. Patta said that Absolute Bagels has enough cream cheese. Employees at his supplier could not say when the next shipment would arrive. He was alarmed by what he was hearing and he was going to check with other suppliers in the Bronx and Queens.
What are we going to do if we can't find cream cheese? Mr. Patta said so.
Several customers at a bagel shop said on Friday that they would not order a bagel if cream cheese wasn't available.
James Giaquinto said it was probably not. That is an essential part of the bagel.
The first cracks in the supply chain were visible several months ago, some shop owners said.
Christopher Pugliese, the owner of Tompkins Square Bagels in the East Village, said that it has been weird and the same thing. When you go into the shops, we are all struggling to patch things together.
Mr. Pugliese said that his dairy supplier called him Thursday night and told him that his 800-pound order wouldn't be arriving on Friday.
I was wondering what I was going to do this weekend. Mr. Pugliese said so. Four people told me I can't get cream cheese.
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Four people told Christopher Pugliese they couldn't get him cream cheese.
He finally got his hands on a case after calling four other distributors, but instead of a giant bag of cream cheese, the box was full of individually wrapped three-pound sticks.
Bagel shop owners are taking their cream cheese across state lines. Frank Mattera, the owner of Bagelsmith in Brooklyn, said on Friday that he was going to pick up 2,000 pounds of cream cheese in New Jersey.
Mr. Mattera said he had been forced to go that route in recent weeks to meet the demand for the bagels he sells.
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He said that he would usually drive to northern Jersey to pick up his truck. You make a phone call and it goes to you.
Shop owners can't just run to the grocery store for a few tubs of cream cheese because it's in its rawest form.
Adrian Concha, the general manager of Shelsky's Brooklyn Bagels, said they don't want to keep opening up 500 little packets of cream cheese to get what they need.
Mr. Pugliese of Tompkins Square Bagels told him that it would be asking smaller dairy farmers to help fill the gaps. Mr. Pugliese said that the supplier was not sure it would be able to keep up with demand.
Phil Pizzano, a sales representative at the largest food distributor in New York State, said he had gotten hundreds of calls from panicked bagel shop owners asking if there was any cream cheese left.
The Philadelphia cream cheese funds have run dry.
He said you get answers from every manufacturer.
Thornton said in a statement that the company was seeing a spike in demand for several of its products. She said that the company had shipped out 35 percent more product to food service partners this year.
Ms. Thornton said in the statement that they continue to see elevated and sustained demand. We expect to see this trend continue as more people eat breakfast at home and use cream cheese as an ingredient in easy desserts.
The supply chain that brings cream cheese from factories to the morning bagel has had a number of problems, including a labor shortage in the manufacturing sector that began at the height of the coronaviruses epidemic.
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Cookie dough cream cheese is being prepared by Ruben Gahona. Some bagel shop owners have had to travel out of state to buy cream cheese.
Mr. Pizzano said that if someone ordered 1,000 cases, they might only get a portion. Maybe you order a truckload and only get a few.
The shortage of cream cheese is posing a challenge to bakeries, many of which will make hundreds of cheesecakes and other cream cheese-based desserts for the holidays.
Everyone on the market is trying to purchase something from the same company. It is not just cream cheese.
Bagel shops are facing a shortage of meat, and several have reported new problems finding it.
Bo's Bagels in Harlem had recently been able to stock up on cream cheese but was having trouble getting Taylor Ham, according to a supervisor.
Ms. Ramon said that last week they started feeling the shortage. It is taking its toll on us little by little.
Barney Greengrass on the Upper West Side is having a hard time finding pastrami and beef tongue.
Gary Greengrass said he had heard from bagel shop owners in other countries who had been unable to get cream cheese. He said the supply chain issues should be a wake-up call for Americans who take the process for granted.
Mr. Greengrass said that they don't appreciate what goes behind everything to move things from the source to the store and throughout the country.
Several shop owners said it was not certain if the shortage would translate into higher prices or limits on orders. The distributors said they did not expect the problem to be solved soon.
Mr. Pugliese said he had considered eliminating espresso from the cream cheese menu. Some said they had turned to lower-quality suppliers.
Mr. Pugliese said it sounds silly to talk about a huge crisis.
A bagel with cream cheese is a New York institution and a big deal to many of his customers.
Mr. Pugliese said bagels are sacred. I feel like I let people down.
The reporting was done by Precious Fondren and Lola Fadulu.
