Ketchup Package Shortage Creates Online Market

    Online entrepreneurs are selling ketchup packets on eBay after the condiment was reported to be in short supply.

  The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention inadvertently created increased demand for ketchup packets after issuing guidance that restaurants should replace ketchup bottles, salt and pepper shakers, and other table condiments with individual packets to avoid points on contact on which the coronavirus could spread.

   Shortly after news sources reported that restaurants are desperately searching for ketchup packets to provide to indoor diners and those who pick up, Fox News reported that several listings for Heinz ketchup packets appeared on eBay, where 20 packages of 50 ketchup packets recently sold for $9.99 each.

  Today, eBay made 150 sales of 100 ketchup packets that went for $11.99 or 250 packets for $17.29.

  The highest bidders for ketchup packets were at least two people who paid $28.95 for an order of 500 packets, one of the eBay listings showed.

   While Heinz works to increase its manufacturing capacity by 25%, so that it can churn out more than 12 billion “sachets” a year, the ketchup company requests that restaurant hold tight, the Wall Street Journal reported.