NATCHEZ &045; The question hung from the lips of every restaurant kitchen today, one that many were too superstitious to ask out loud.

Where is the Sysco truck?

Stacy Hawthorne helmed one of the four trucks the restaurant supply company sent into town today. The restaurants he supplied &045; and the people there &045; were happy to see them all.

&uot;People were surprised to see me, they thought we wouldn’t get here today,&uot; Hawthorne said.

Hawthorne and his fellow drivers proved the skeptics wrong, including the co-owners of the Uptown Grocery.

Jim Anderson and Ed Blackburn said that the &uot;Where is Sysco?&uot; sign in front of their store was made in jest.

&uot;It’s not Sysco’s fault,&uot; Blackburn said. &uot;It’s a joke with our driver and our salesman.&uot;

&uot;But it’s a serious joke because we’re trying to feed the hungry but it’s hard to do without food.&uot;

Sysco’s district manager Hayes Vaughn feels their pain. He said operations were chaotic until just last night.

&uot;We’re about two hours behind because of the situation in Jackson,&uot; he said.

&uot;The only problem we might have is getting gas, but I think we have that under control.&uot;

Under control was the buzzword among suppliers Wednesday, be they restaurant, grocery store or gas station. They all said that they were experiencing different levels of sluggishness getting products to stores, but it wasn’t for lack of product.

&uot;I’ve got a lot of merchandise that I have committed for Natchez,&uot; Brad Sullivan, a district manager for Wal-Mart said.

The Gulf coast, however, was taking precedent over less affected areas, he said.

To make matters more difficult, the Natchez area’s normal food distribution center is in Hammond, La, and not operational.

With 61 stores dark and another 46 running on generator power, Sullivan said transportation was not so easy.

&uot;Logistically, getting it to stores is a nightmare,&uot; he said, adding that trucks will continue to arrive in Natchez nonetheless.

Barry Loy, co-owner of five Markets grocery stories in the Miss-Lou, said his stores will be caught up with suppliers by Thursday &045; with the notable exceptions of bread, water and ice.

&uot;The bakery’s are not able to keep up with demand Š there’s just not enough bread, water and ice as we need,&uot; Loy said.

If you’re wondering why there are no bananas on the shelves, Loy said that’s because Gulfport, where most of the bananas come into port, is closed.