Carol L. Paur and
Stephanie jones
Better Deals, Local Restaurants Talk About Reasons For Inflation And What Customers Should Expect To See Local News
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Doug Helnore, owner of Best Bargains in New Munster, spoke Monday, June 28, about some of the factors affecting the price of meat and other products. At Best Bargain, they are able to buy wholesale through the wholesale supply chain to keep prices low and get the products customers need. But they are still not immune to price increases in the supply chain.
STEPHANIE JONES
Buying a steak this summer, along with pretty much everything else, comes at a steep price.
Jonathan Cross, owner of Jonathan’s on Brick Street in Delavan, said in early June that he paid more than $ 40 a pound for a choice netting cut, which cost around $ 20.
Over the past two weeks, the price of beef has started to drop, but it’s still higher than it was, said Doug Helnore, owner of Best Bargains on Highway 50 in New Munster which supplies commercial businesses. as well as individual customers.
Reasons for inflation include some lingering effects of changes in COVID production, exports, and continued high demand. There is some hope that the prices will drop at the end of the summer but it’s hard to say.
Nicholas Vorpagel, vice president of Lake Geneva Country Meats, partly blames COVID and its impact on large meat packers who have had to operate at “reduced capacity.”
“These factories are well-oiled operations, but with the spread of COVID, they’ve really had to keep people away from each other,†Vorpagel said. This resulted in a decrease in the number of people working and a slowdown in production.
“Sometimes I wonder if they are using the COVID card to keep prices up,†Cross added. “Before COVID, meat prices were at their lowest for 17 years. Now the beef has gone up 100 percent. It was brutal. We added $ 7 (to the cost of the beef entrees on the menu), but we’ll have to change that at market price.
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