Family barbecues are back on this Independence Day. They just might be more expensive
The way many Texans celebrate Independence Day may be changing. Whether that change is minor or major will depend on how big a role barbecue plays in the celebration.
With rising beef prices due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on meat packing operations, it may mean your celebration is more expensive or includes less brisket.
Joe Riscky, a partner at the still-new butcher shop The Meat Board in the Lincoln Village shopping center, said the shop has seen major increases in the cost to buy their stock. The shop has tried to eat as much of the price hike as it can, but that increase has still been passed on to customers.
That could affect the way folks celebrate Independence Day, and it could impact some businesses in North Texas.
Riscky said the store, which opened just before the pandemic, already has a loyal customer base. While the price increases may have reduced the quantity or frequency of meat purchases, customers are still willing to pay the higher prices.
“Demand is still there,” Riscky said. “Especially on red meat and on barbecue options like brisket and ribs and steaks.”
Trying to break even
Roy Pope Grocery in Fort Worth said the price of beef has spiked to a level forcing the store to cut profit margins to an extreme.
“Even though the prices are going up for our customers, we’re just trying to break even,” owner Chris Reale said.
Reale said most customers will see a cost increase of about 30% over this time last year, and most craft barbecue joints and mom and pop butchers and grocers are feeling a hit.
He said when it comes to that brisket so common in July Fourth celebrations, he’s selling a pound of cooked meat for $25 while he’s paying $20 for that same pound, when he combines the cost of the meat, labor and wood for smoking it.
“We’re very open and talking about it, telling customers why the prices have gone up,” Reale said.
And it seems it may be a price many customers are willing to pay.
Reale started cooking barbecue at Roy Pope Grocery last Saturday, smoking seven briskets. He didn’t make any big announcements about it and said he thought those seven would last him through dinner. They didn’t.
The grocery store started selling the brisket at 11 a.m. and Reale said they were sold out by 12:30 p.m. In preparation for the Fourth of July, he’s cooking a lot more.
He said the grocery store will also be offering Independence Day specials on Popsicles, hamburgers, hamburger buns, s’mores and, of course, brisket and racks of ribs.
Effect on barbecue restaurants
But Roy Pope Grocery is safer than some.
For many, the stakes are rising with the price of steaks.
Smokey’s Barbecue, a Fort Worth staple since the 1960s, closed this week. Owner Paul Calhoun said that while aspects like the drop in customers during the pandemic contributed, the price of beef was also a major factor.
“You can’t always pass it [price hikes] on to the customer and if you can’t find a way to absorb it, then we just gotta close,” Calhoun said.
Smokey’s, which first opened in the early ‘60s, closed and reopened in the ‘80s, Calhoun said. He may be able to bring the Fort Worth barbecue icon back at some point, but for now he’ll have to focus on a smaller scale with catering and pop-ups because of the cost of meat.
Brandon Hurtado, owner of Hurtado Barbecue in Arlington, said his restaurant has had to raise prices but expects to see them drop after July 4.
“We raised prices three months ago, when beef prices started really going up but we’re not raising them again for the foreseeable future,” Hurtado said.
Because many menu items are charged to customers based on market price, he said the ticket on a meal at Hurtado should go down a bit after the holiday.
His eatery, a Tex-Mex take on barbecue, opened just before COVID lockdowns hit Texas. He said it’s been a tough storm to weather but they’ll make it through.
Hurtado will be having July 4 specials, like bulk order meals and special tomahawk ribeyes made with certified Angus beef.
And while prices are up, he said he thinks customers are more willing to pay those steeper bills than they may have been pre-COVID, especially for a holiday. He, like everybody else who talked to the Star-Telegram, said he’s trying to reduce the impact the beef price increase has on customers.
And he doesn’t think those prices will change too much about how families celebrate the Fourth of July.
People have been living apart from friends and family for so long and they’re willing to pay the increased prices for barbecue, he said. If it means they’re eating it with loved ones and celebrating American independence, it’s worth it.
This story was originally published July 2, 2021 at 5:05 PM.