KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost of taking care of cattle before they hit the market has skyrocketed with it comes to fuel, fertilizer and feed.
"In the cattle market with increases in corn, a lot of people are throwing more wheat into those feed mixes, trying to lower the feed cost and thus lower the inputs for those cattle," Patrick Montgomery, founder and CEO of Kansas City Cattle Company said.
But Russia's invasion of Ukraine has caused wheat prices to jump more than 40%.
"As the guys are producing cattle, obviously those costs are going up, the breakeven cost on said animal is a lot higher, so you're going to see those prices go up on your grocery store," Montgomery said.
So far his company has had to make three gradual increases within the year and a fourth one isn't out of the question just yet.
And they're not alone.
"It’s sticker shock when you go from 10.95 to 17.95," Jerry Rauschelbach, owner of Arthur Bryant's Barbeque said. "I feel bad for the customer."
Which is why Rauschelbach posted a sign explaining to customers what's causing the rise in prices and encouraging them to order anything other than beef.
"The locals they'll move off brisket, you know, they'll move off it," he said. "The tourists won't, because they've got one crack at Arthur Bryant’s and it doesn't really matter."
Suzanne Turner, who stopped by with family visiting from Texas, is floored by how much she's paying for meat at the grocery store.
"You go in looking at what a roast was even six months ago to how it is today and you’re like what happened?" Turner said.
With prime grilling season just around the corner, demand will keep increasing, but for now, the cost of brisket is slightly easing.
"We’ll see our prices go down, but it’s kind of like the oil industry, as soon as there’s a problem gas goes immediately up and it comes down pretty slow and that’s going to be the same way here," Rauschelbach said.
