Texas BBQ joint removes staple menu item as beef prices soar

A Texas barbecue restaurant in the small town of Sinton, about a 30-minute drive from Corpus Christi, recently made the decision to remove brisket from its standard menu.The choice wasn’t made overnight, Andrew Soto, the owner and operator of Butter’s BBQ, told Fox News Digital.“We’ve been dealing with the price hikes, specifically in beef and briskets, for the better part of, I would say, five years,” Soto said.Soto noted that prices have fluctuated over the last five years, and, at times, they even appeared to be heading in the right direction.But over the last eight months to a year, beef prices climbed rapidly, and it eventually became too much to keep up with, he said.When the restaurant tried adjusting prices and cooking less brisket, its foot traffic and sales took a hit.“I guess the straw that broke the camel’s back was last week.I was talking to one of my food reps, and he informed me that brisket had once again gone up in price,” Soto said, noting that the price had increased by almost $1 per pound.That might not sound like a lot, he acknowledged, but it adds up when buying hundreds of pounds of beef at once.

And in a small town, it’s hard to anticipate how much people will buy.According to the USDA’s Economic Research Service, beef and veal prices were 5.9% higher in August 2026 than in August 2025.In total, prices are expected to increase 9.4% in 2026, with a forecast interval of 7.4% to 11.6%.Fox News Digital reached out to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association for comment.It became too much of a “gamble,” Soto said, to pay the steep prices for brisket and not be sure if the quantity he purchased would sell.“It was a hard one, but I made the decision to pull our brisket from the menu completely,” Soto said.The restaurant is currently experimenting with alternatives like beef cheek as a brisket alternative, but overall, pork is the priority, and Butter’s BBQ is trying to encourage guests to reach for ribs and sausage...