Restaurant owners feel impact of inflation on meat and poultry

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - Dining out is now going up in price. Restaurant owners say inflation on beef and poultry is to blame.

Chicken is one of the most popular items on El Sol Mexican Restaurant’s menu.

However, owner, Alvaro Munoz said for him, it is one of the most expensive items.

“The prices of chicken have gone up little by little every week... on some stuff more than triple,” Munoz said.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, Meat Price Index reached a record high this year.

Causing restaurant owners, like Munoz, to adjust.

“We try to substitute it with the chicken thighs. We tried it but that didn’t work... Pretty much we added a dollar on any of our menu stuff,” Munoz said.

Daniel Ham, the assistant manager of Bella Italia.

He shared that he noticed the jump in beef prices in February.

“I kind of understand what’s going on in the economy right now. But to specifically want to satisfy our customers and I’m a meat lover myself,” Ham said.

At Bella Italia, they are not increasing the prices of items on the menu.

Instead, I’m told they’ve resorted to having smaller portion sizes on your plates.

“We learned earlier we just didn’t do much of portioning but not we’ve kind of got a little strict with how much meat we are putting in our dishes,” Ham said.

With prices still on the rise, customers just must pay a little more and so do Ham and Munoz.

“Hopefully this is just a spike in inflation and hopefully it goes back to normal,” Ham said.

“I just hope for the best and I don’t know, just tough it out,” Munoz said.

Munoz and Ham say they are keeping the best interests of their customers in mind.

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