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Sheldon Hurst holds packs of beef in the meat market at Anthony’s in Meeker. Photo/Brian Blansett -
Sheldon Hurst and Anthony Buoy, right, at the meat case at Anthony’s Foods in Meeker. Photo/Brian Blansett
As a person drives down a country road or a highway he or she can see cow herds grazing in the pastures or just lying down. Doesn’t seem like there are fewer cattle.
But area grocery stores and restaurants are experiencing shortages and higher prices in beef products brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anthony Buoy, who owns and operates Anthony’s Foods in Meeker and Prague, confirmed the shortages are impacting the two stores. “We’re seeing it in pork products, too,” he said.
On Monday he pointed to the shortages in T-Bones and other choice cuts. “We ordered four cases of T-Bones and got none and they cut our Ribeye order in half. They did the same with our chuck tenders.
“T-Bone prices will double even though we got none for this week.
Ground beef has jumped $2 a pound and Ribeyes are about $1 more a pound,” Buoy said.
He stated that roasts and strip steaks are over a dollar a pound more.
Buoy said they ordered pork butts but received none.
Richard Driskell is Director of Retail Operations for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.
“We ran a T-bone steak special for Mother’s Day and ordered between 25 and 30 cases of T-bones for each store. We received only between 5 and 6 cases for each store,” he noted.
Driskell explained the cause for the shortages in beef products during the pandemic. He expects to see the same situation to unfold with pork and chicken in the not too distant future.
“We have the same number of cows, the same number of farmers, the same number of pigs and the same number of chickens,” he began.
He says the shortage lies in processing of the meat. “What is happening is the big processing plants are only producing at about 20 percent of capacity,” Driskell said. “This is because so many of the employees in those plants have caught the Coronavirus and they can’t work if they do.
“Even though the President has issued an executive order for the processing plants to stay open, they’re only able to produce at about 20 percent of capacity right now,” he reiterated.
Information he’s received recently, Driskell noted, shows that some of the bigger companies are shuttering plants temporarily or indefinitely due to the Pandemic.
And that is leading to less capacity which equates to the shortages and higher prices, he indicated.
Grady Oliver at Hardesty Grocery in Shawnee said, “beef prices have jumped $3 a pound on roasts and $1.50 a pound on most all steak cuts.”
Oliver, a co-owner and manager of Hardesty Grocery added, “Prices have even increased on hamburger meat and Ground Chuck.”
He says he’s not experiencing much of a shortage “because we’re staying ahead of it. But we’ve already had to jump $1 a pound on some of our meat.”
Oliver indicated he’s beginning to see some price hikes in pork, too, but not yet on chicken.
Mike Vandever is owner of Dan’s Barbecue in Davenport and he said he’s been having difficulty with getting pork products and prices are increasing.
“We’re having difficulty with getting pork products and have for a couple of weeks,” Vandever said.
“The prices have gone up a little and we can’t get what we want,” he added.
He commented that, “We’re getting St. Louis ribs, and they’re okay, but we’re having trouble getting Spare ribs. They’re cutting our orders on Spare ribs.”
Vandever emphasized, “We haven’t been able to get any in the last couple of weeks. We’re hoping we can get Spare ribs in a week or so.”
He said his pork prices have increased about 20 percent or so. “But at least we’re getting ribs,” he said.
Jay Friend is the store manager of Beachler’s Grocery in Prague. He said on Tuesday, “It hasn’t impacted us much yet. The retail prices are higher than I’ve seen in the last 20 years. But I’m not having problems getting what I order.”
He indicated the price jump began a couple of weeks ago.
He pointed out, “The customers need protein so they are buying beef, but just less of it.”
Friend said customers are buying more single units of steak and ground beef and not so much of the family packs due to the price increase. He said he’d rather not comment on the percentage prices have jumped.