031132 Consumers Seek Alternatives to Costly Beef

Herald Tribune (Florida) - The Sammy Frog's restaurant at Lakewood Ranch used to have New York strip on the menu for $18.95, but it removed the item earlier this month because of escalating beef prices.

"The price of beef has tripled since the beginning of the year," said John Leinaweaver, the restaurant's general manager. "It's just outrageous."

Increasing demand for beef from consumers on high-protein, low- carb diets is partially responsible for the higher prices.

So is the Midwest drought, which caused ranchers to cull their herds this summer, as well as the outbreak of mad cow disease in Canada, which caused the United States to block cattle imports from that country.

Although ranchers are benefiting from the trend, restaurateurs and consumers are feeling the pain.

Leinaweaver said he could have kept New York strip on Sammy Frog's menu by reducing portion sizes or the quality of the cut. Or he could have increased the price of the entré to $32. None of those options appealed to him.

Ken Pepperman works on a dish at Sammy Frog's at Lakewood Ranch. The price of beef for the restaurant has tripled since Jan. 1.

"We didn't want our menu price points to go that high and we didn't want to give customers lesser quality," Leinaweaver said. "So we decided to drop the strip."

One local butcher said high beef prices are having a similar effect on customers who shop at his store.

"Beef and veal prices are the highest they've been in 30 years," said Mark Rebhan, owner, head chef and butcher at Alpine Steak House and Karl Ehmers Quality Meats in Sarasota. "Some people are switching to pork, chicken or lamb."

Rebhan pointed out that filet mignon that cost $8.98 per pound in December costs $15.98 per pound today, a 78 percent increase.

"That price may come down," Rebhan said. "But so far it's been going up every week and demand will increase the closer we get to Christmas and New Year's."

Cattle ranchers obviously are pleased.

"We saw a nice increase," said Clive Morris, vice president of agriculture for Schroeder-Manatee Ranch in Manatee County.

The price per pound for the Brangus cattle that Morris ships to Midwestern feed lots rose to 96 cents per pound in October from 76 cents per pound a year earlier.

Like most Florida ranchers, Schroeder-Manatee raises calves until they weigh about 530 pounds and then sends them to feed lots in Texas, Kansas and Iowa for fattening. Ranchers do this because it costs less to ship the cattle to feed lots than to ship feed to the cattle.

Because of higher beef prices, some ranchers have chosen to ship their calves earlier than normal. In turn, feed lot owners have opted to slaughter cattle before they reach optimum weight.

The result is that fewer pounds of beef are making it to market, further aggravating the shortages. In turn, the beef that arrives at market is of lower quality.

"It doesn't have a chance to get marbleized," said Rebhan, referring to prime cuts of beef that are streaked with fat. That causes the prices of the highest-quality cuts to rise faster than lower-quality cuts.

Most ranchers say beef prices probably have peaked and will come down again next year.

"Whenever prices go this high this fast, they usually end up coming down lower than they were to start with," said John Stephens, president of the Hardee Land and Cattle Co., who operates ranches near Myakka City and Duette. "The average consumer can't afford the current prices and will switch over to eat something else."

Although it will take two or three years, U.S. ranchers will increase their herds to meet demand. In the meantime, imports undoubtedly will increase.

Brazil is pressing the United States to accept more of its beef exports, and Canada, which formerly accounted for 7 to 10 percent of the U.S. beef supply, is expected to resume exporting before too long.

"As soon as they reopen the market to Canadian cattle, prices will go back down," Stephens said.

He added that low-carb diet fads eventually will die out. But avid low-carb dieters say there isn't much chance of that happening.

Doug Driscoll, a partner at a Sarasota architectural firm called Mother, lost 50 pounds since March on the Atkins diet, dropping from 178 to 128 pounds.

The diet involved cutting out potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, cereal, orange juice and other foods and beverages high in carbohydrates.

Driscoll said the change involved considerable suffering at first, and giving up orange juice was especially painful. But he has no intention of going back to his old ways.

High prices, however, are causing him to cut back on beef. "I'm eating more fish and chicken these days," he said.

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