Good news for the Fourth of July. Despite sizzling global beef costs, Charlotte’s best burger joints are keeping hamburger prices unchanged.
It’s not great news for the restaurants, which are emerging from their worst year in history.
The global price of beef increased 12% in the last year. Grocery stores increased beef prices by 4-5%. But an informal Charlotte survey indicates now is a great time to go out for a burger — as long as it’s a local place.
Brooks’ Sandwich House, Pinky’s Westside Grill, Blacow Burger, BrightStar Grill, Bang Bang Burger, and Zack’s Hamburgers all make prominent best-of lists for the best burgers in Charlotte. They face the same labor shortages as other businesses, costs for everything are up, and COVID-19 made last year a nightmare.
None of them are raising prices.
“It’s nothing like we’ve ever seen before,” said Andy Cauble, owner of Pinky’s Westside Grill on West Morehead Street. “Everything is going up – chicken, beef, even fire oil.”
Brooks’ Sandwich House on North Brevard Street, known for chili and burgers, is in the same situation. According to manager Lauren Brooks, they had to raise the prices on the menu by about a dollar after reopening in February 2021. But the restaurant intends to keep prices the same.
Places like Blacow Burger in Fort Mill are able to source meat from local farms, and national market increases do not increase their burger prices. Managers at BrightStar Grill in Mt. Holly and Bang Bang Burgers — with locations in Elizabeth and South End — obtain food products from larger suppliers. Although they are well aware of rising costs, they’re not raising prices.
Small, locally owned restaurants are just trying to find labor and stay afloat, said Ela Casuga, controller for the Kuester Commercial real estate firm. She has advised restaurants and bars for 20 years. Local restaurants are dealing with pent-up demand and don’t want to risk losing customers, she said, and don’t have the same analytical resources, tools and logistical support as national chains.
Photos by Vlada Maznytska
“If they don’t have an electronic way of seeing how their food costs are changing week to week, if they’re just kind of winging it month to month, they’re not able to plan it out,” Casuga said. “The national chains are able to see average food costs per serving, broken down by burger, mustard, bread, pickles,” she said. “Small restaurants would have to change their menus, their website. They just say ‘forget it.’”
Now is the time for restaurant owners to analyze costs, processes and models, Casuga said, before any other significant economic stressor occurs. And the way for loyal customers to support local restaurants, she said, is to include fries, side orders, drinks and desserts with their order, which add revenue and offer a higher profit margin.
The Wall Street Journal and Thrillist both list Zack’s Hamburgers on South Boulevard, a family-owned restaurant in business since 1975, as offering one of the best burgers in the United States. Owner George Demopoulos, who took over the place from his father and has run it for 45 years, said he expects beef prices to go even higher.
The loss of places like Mr. K, another famous family-owned burger joint that closed in March, concerns him.
“We don’t want to raise prices because we want to stay loyal to our customers,” Demopoulos said. “But we don’t know for how much longer we will be able to keep going.”
Queens University News Service
