Tomato lovers beating shortages by raiding Harvester’s all-you-can-eat salad bars

DESPERATE tomato lovers are countering shortages by raiding Harvester’s all-you-can-eat salad bars.

Brazen diners have been spotted filling their own plastic boxes with the salad favourites before sneaking out.

The scenes come less than a year after Harvester brought back the bars after putting staff in charge of dishing up during the pandemic.

A customer from Colchester, Essex, tweeted: “At Harvester in Stanway and the table next to me are going to the salad bar and getting just tomatoes and then transferring to a Tupperware tub under the table. They went three times!”

Another wrote: “Don't mind me. Just at Harvester salad bar doing my weekly shop. #TomatoShortages.”

Experts have blamed the crisis on unseasonably mild weather in the Med while soaring energy costs have hit crops in UK greenhouses.

Tomato prices across Europe have now soared by 300 per cent — from £5 a case to £20.

Supermarkets are also struggling to get hold of other salad items including cucumbers, peppers and lettuce.

Harvester bosses have remained tight-lipped on how they are still sourcing their tomatoes.

A spokesman for parent company Mitchells & Butlers would say only: “We are working closely with our suppliers to ensure plentiful salad options for our guests.”