'Cabbages for dinner': City supermarkets run short of vegetables and bread

Countdown has apologised to shoppers at its Ponsonby supermarket.

Countdown has apologised to shoppers at its Ponsonby store after shelves were left virtually empty of vegetables earlier this week.

Aucklander Eddy Dever posted images to his Instagram account on Tuesday showing the shelves in the vegetable section of the Williamson Ave store with just cabbages left on the shelves.

"Countdown has run out of vegetables. Absolute madness."

"Cabbages for dinner I guess."

Countdown's Ponsonby store was virtually out of vegetables earlier this week. Photo/Instagram.

Dever said after his post a friend replied from another supermarket in Wellington with the same problem.

Kiri Hannifin, Countdown's general manager of corporate affairs and sustainability, said it had been having a few issues with supplies of fruit and vegetables over the past couple of weeks due to the rain before Christmas.

"Fruit and vegetables are very susceptible to weather conditions and we have had a few issues with supply over the last couple of weeks due to the rain before Christmas."

There had also been an increase in demand for salads and meat due to the warmer weather, she said.

"The warm weather over the last couple of weeks has lead to more of us entertaining at night and having BBQ for dinner, so demand for salads and meat has increased a lot."

But Hannifin said the Ponsonby store case was an anomaly.

"We apologise to our customers at our Ponsonby store for the lack of produce [on Tuesday].

She said fresh fruit and vegetables were restocked every morning and it assured customers that everything was back to normal by yesterday.

Meanwhile, Whanganui was also hit by a bread shortage on Saturday at both Countdown and Pak'nSave supermarkets after a manufacturer had a break-down in its machinery.

A Countdown spokeswoman said it did experience some shortages on Saturday.

"Everything was back to normal on Sunday morning"

Shoppers at Countdown and Pak n Save in Whanganui had a shortage of bread over the weekend.

A spokeswoman for Pak'nSave said one of its manufacturers was not able to fulfil an order completely over a 24-hour period.

"This is now resolved and supply is back to normal."