Medicine Hatters cope with rising cost of beef

The owner of Mike’s Meats says he’s had no choice but to pass on those higher prices to customers.

“It’s a perfect storm for this to be happening right now and I don’t know where it’s going to end,” Mike Steiner told CHAT News.

He says a number of factors are at play in beef’s rising value. For one, Canadian cattle are going for a higher price in some other major markets.

“If they’re selling it high to the U.S. and Asia we’re also going to be paying for it high in Canada and that’s just the fact of supply and demand. It creates a shortage in Canada of cattle.”

Steiner says high commodity and fuel prices are also putting pressure on the cost of beef. And with barbecue season on the verge of firing up, prices are bound to rise even further this summer.

“Your t-bones, your ribeyes, your t-bone strips, tenderloin… anything that’s used for barbequing, there’s going to be a high load of that.”

At Scrubs Diner downtown, the mounting cost of beef is eating away at their profit margin.

“That’s one of our higher costs: roast beef for sure. But we’re managing to keep our costs down for now,” the diner’s Ray Tone said.

However, Tone says a small price hike is likely in the offing soon at Scrubs.

And as beef prices rise in general, some Hatters are struggling to keep up

“Just trying to make ends meet,” one woman on Third Street SE. said, “Gonna even have to cut our bills in half just to be able to afford it now.”

Another woman told CHAT News, “the cost of living is already pretty high so it makes things a little more difficult.”

But others are taking the growing cost of beef more matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, it’s outrageous,” one man said, and when asked how it’s impacting his finances, he added, “well if it costs more it costs more.”

It’s unclear how high beef prices will rise, but Steiner says to prepare for higher chicken prices too, as people look to cut back on pricier red meat.

by Darren Rathwell

Medicine Hatters cope with rising cost of beef

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