A Marmite shortage has sparked British breakfast panic after leading supermarketer Tesco stopped online sales of the iconic toast spread due to price increases. Make that half a panic, since a lot of Brits hold their noses around the dark sticky paste.
Bloomberg described the severity of the situation by comparing it to Heinz ketchup being pulled from Walmart the day before 4th of July.
That should help explain the panic of Brits echoing through Twitter.
Wikipedia describes Marmite as a yeast extract and by-product of beer brewing that is made into a brown spread with a powerful flavor, and very salty. The distinctive taste is reflected its marketing slogan: "Love it or hate it."
A pricing dispute between the country’s largest supermarket and the topping's supplier, Unilever, showed that Brexit fallout was real.
Brexit — Britain’s decision in June to leave the European Union — was the main reason why a supermarket chain of Tesco’s magnitude is now running low on Marmite, said the Washington Post.
The standoff was mainly due to a fall in Britain’s currency.
Not only are Unilever items like Marmite running low at the stores, some other items are completely out of stock online.
“A divided country over #Brexit is now equally divided over #Marmite,” wrote George Dokimakis on Twitter, said USA Today. “Half the population are happy and the other half in panic #Marmitegate.”
Another Twitter user, Emma Kennedy, wrote: “If Brexit means no more Marmite, there will be riots in the streets (but only from half the population).”
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