‘A cheeseburger at this point is a luxury’: Why the all-American staple costs more this summer

Amber Lee has a hard time stomaching the ground beef section at her local Wegmans.

Lee eats beef. She just can’t bring herself to pay for it.

“A cheeseburger at this point is a luxury,” said Lee, 36, a mother of two from Downingtown.

As beef prices have surged, Lee, a part-time mental health counselor, and her husband, a UPS supervisor, have started opting mostly for meals centered on fish that they catch themselves along the Jersey Shore and cook at home.

If they go out to eat for a special occasion, Lee said, she refuses to pay more than $15 for a burger “unless it has the words Kobe or Wagyu in front of it,” referring to higher-quality types of beef.

Consumers are feeling the sting of higher beef prices whether they’re shopping for Memorial Day cookouts or grabbing a bite at McDonald’s, where a quarter-pounder with cheese meal is now $12, more than double what it cost a decade ago.

Since the pandemic, food prices have risen more than 20%, according to the Federal Reserve. Over the past year, the cost of many staples has declined or moderated, but beef and veal prices have kept rising, up 7% over April 2023, according to the most recent Consumer Price Index. The continued rise is attributed in part to a cattle shortage and has led some consumers to opt for cheaper alternatives like chicken.

Several burger-joint owners in the city, suburbs, and down the Jersey Shore told The Inquirer that they’re constantly weighing whether to raise prices, potentially driving away customers, or to find another way to absorb the rising costs, operating on even slimmer margins than usual.

“My hamburger has gone up a dollar a pound in the past nine months,” said Pete Politarhos, owner of the Delaware County franchise Zac’s Hamburgers, which goes through more than 1,000 pounds of hamburger meat a week.

“I’m steadfastly trying to hold my prices for my customers,” added Politarhos, whose stores sell a 3-ounce cheeseburger for $3.79. “I don’t know how much longer it’s going to last.”

In January, Charlie’s Hamburgers, an almost-90-year-old establishment in Folsom, raised prices on its 2-ounce smash burgers by 10 to 15 cents, its first increase since the pandemic. Still, Charlie’s, too, has kept the price of its cheeseburger under $4, relying on high volume to offset rising costs.

Charlie’s meat costs have risen about “20 cents a pound, which doesn’t seem like a whole lot, but it adds up when you’re buying hundreds of pounds,” owner Timothy Blackburn said.

In Francisville, Shahezad “Shah” Contractor is betting on continued demand for burgers — and consumers’ willingness to pay for high quality.

He recently opened Cousin’s Burger, which advertises “high-quality smash burgers made from locally sourced, grass-fed, grain-finished, antibiotic and hormone-free, 100% Halal beef.” He pays a premium — probably 20% to 30% more — for beef that checks all those boxes, and charges $8 for a single.

Three months in, Contractor said he’s already looking to expand, though he might not be able to if costs stay high.

“Beef is definitely a concern,” he said. “It’s a good chunk of our costs right now.”

For burger business owners, the hike in beef prices is just the latest in a long line of stressors.

A decade ago, when Spot Gourmet Burgers was a popular food truck on Drexel’s campus, its namesake 6-ounce burger — piled with bacon, cheddar, pickles, slaw, and special sauce — cost hungry students and workers about $7.

Now at the Brewerytown shop, “some people come in and say … ‘Since when is the Spot burger $12.75?’” owner Josh Kim said. “I’m like, ‘Welcome to the post-pandemic world.’”

When Kim moved to his storefront in 2016, he raised prices $1.50 to account for higher operating costs. After COVID hit in 2020, he started adding 25 to 75 cents a year due to inflation and labor costs.

Compared to pre-pandemic, he now pays about 10% more for beef (a number he said would likely be higher if he didn’t grind the meat himself). Onions, fryer oil, paper products, payroll, and rent is way up, too.

But as Kim has raised prices on his 6-ounce burger, he also started selling smaller smash burgers, half the size and price. The smaller burgers have become increasingly popular, helping drive up customer volume from the pandemic lull. Kim said he now sells about as many smash burgers as regular-sized burgers. That’s especially good for business, he said, because smash burgers have a higher margin.

“Even though the smash burger is half the cost of a regular burger,” Kim said, “consumers still see this as a value.”

Down the Shore, the Margate Dairy Bar & Burger owner Chris Clayton said his propriety blend of short rib and brisket has been increasing about 6% to 8% year-over-year for several years. He raised prices 6% last year but decided to keep them steady this year, with a signature cheeseburger costing $9.49.

“We made the bet this year that we’re going to try to do it [make money] on more volume,” said Clayton, noting that the Dairy Bar can go through 1,000 patties (of all varieties) on a busy summer day.

Even in a wealthy beach town like Margate, he said, there’s only so much customers are willing to pay for a burger.

Regardless of whether the price of their favorite burger has increased slowly or all at once, consumers have taken notice — and many have changed their habits.

Dana Friedman, of West Conshohocken dines out at Main Line and Philadelphia establishments and said she would draw the line at $35 for a burger entrée at high-end restaurants. That rules out the $99 Fireman burger at Hook & Ladder in Conshohocken, or the $85 or $700 burgers at Drury Beer Garden.

“It’s a very different price point for say, Smashburger, a quick casual store, vs. sitting down at a really nice restaurant,” said the 39-year-old residential real estate agent and concierge.

Adriana Jimenez, 26, of Fairmount, calls herself “a really big burger girl,” treating herself to one about once a week. In the city, she said she’s only found one fast-casual place — East Passyunk’s P’unk Burger — where’s she willing to pay $12 for a burger.

“Sometimes I’ll see burgers that are $20 or more,” said Jimenez, an assistant at an apartment complex. “I’m not paying that. I just refuse.”