When he moved his Mestizo Louisiana Mexican Restaurant to its current Acadian Thruway location a decade ago, Jim Urdiales says the prices of chicken breast and skirt steak were about the same. The two items were—and still are—mainstays on his menu. They’re the backbone of the restaurant’s popular fajitas.
While the price of chicken hasn’t changed much since then, Urdiales tells Business Report in a feature in the current issue that beef prices have nearly tripled due to a mix of outside factors. Fluctuations in the price of beef have been at the mercy of persistent drought conditions in Texas and the price of corn, used to fatten cattle and to produce the gasoline additive, ethanol. Beef’s capricious pricing has forced restaurateurs like Urdiales to carefully consider how they source meat, what companies they’ll rely on to deliver it and how beef can reinforce their unique brands.
When beef prices started to climb, says Urdiales, he could have started buying a lower grade of skirt steak to maintain his prices. Instead, he decided to source a higher grade and adjust prices accordingly.
“As a small business, it was important that I have a particular niche, and I felt like our customers wanted a higher quality,” Urdiales says. “It was the right move for us.”
While Urdiales raised prices to bridge the gap, he says the margin is still razor thin. The beef fajitas are the least profitable item on the menu, he says.
Other local restaurateurs have long recognized that beef is essential to success in the Capital Region, where the appetite for filets, ribeyes and hamburgers seems endless. Ruffino’s Restaurant, which specializes in Italian, seafood and steaks, sells 2,700 pounds of beef a month at a minimum, says chef Gino Sclafani, the restaurant’s food and beverage director and architect of its beef program. Most months, it’s higher and climbs to about 5,000 pounds sold in the month of December alone.
Sourcing beef in a manner that ensures predictable price and quality can be a puzzle.
The strategies that local restaurants deploy in navigating the meat supply world vary, and were made further complicated with the closure of Ready Portion Meat Company in March, a popular source of meat for some independent restaurants and caterers.
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