It isn't just gas that is pricey these days; the cost of a steak has never been higher—and more and more restaurants are passing the cost on to the customer. Y'all ready for a $75 New York Strip? Because it isn't close to inconceivable.
Still, we aren't quite there yet—though we also aren't far off at all. Porter House New York, for instance, already has a $57 cowboy rib steak on the menu. Where once a top notch hunk of meat would run you around $40, these days most of the big steakhouses in the city have gone and crossed the $50 barrier. And there is little sign that prices are going to go back down. In fact, it could get worse. Crain's reports:
There are multiple reasons. The cattle supply in the U.S. has dwindled just as foreign demand for U.S. beef has increased. Last year, beef exports grew 21% over 2010 levels. Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture is forecasting a 4.1% decline in beef output this year, effectively raising the price of the commodity for both consumers and businesses.
Steakhouses aren't jumping to make their meat that expensive—"It's been a big conversation at the company," an executive Vice President at the Palm Restaurant Group tells Crain's—but are being forced into it by the economy (steak profit margins are not nearly as good as you think they are). As Mark Solasz, VP of the Bronx-based, Peter Luger-providing, wholesaler explains, "Consumers can expect to pay 10% more this year [while dining out], because our prices are going up."
So what is a quality red meat lover with a slim wallet to do? Shop around (you can still get an under $50 New York Strip at Michael Jordan's Steakhouse for $40), hold out until prices go down or hope your local butcher can help you out making your house into a steakhouse.
