Restaurant menus show protein pain

A $77 rotisserie chicken in Brooklyn is turning into a shorthand for a broader restaurant problem: protein costs are pushing menus higher. (bonappetit.com) Bon Appétit reported this week that Gigi’s in Brooklyn lists a whole rotisserie chicken for $77 and a half chicken for $40, prices that spread online after influencer Mike Chau posted the menu. New York City Council Member Chi Ossé also mocked the $40 half chicken in a post the magazine cited. (bonappetit.com) The pressure is not limited to one restaurant or one bird. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said prices for food away from home were up 3.8 percent over the 12 months through March 2026, even as food at home fell 0.2 percent in March from February. (bls.gov) Beef is carrying a different kind of strain: there are fewer cattle. The American Farm Bureau Federation said the United States cattle inventory stood at 86.2 million head on January 1, 2026, down 0.3 percent from a year earlier and the lowest level in 75 years. (fb.org) Farm Bureau said beef cow inventory fell to 27.6 million head, the lowest since 1961, and said cattle inventory is unlikely to expand until at least 2028. The group said tighter supplies are contributing to higher beef prices and volatility in 2026. (fb.org) That squeeze is already visible in store data that restaurants watch closely. Bureau of Labor Statistics average-price tables show all uncooked ground beef at $6.86 a pound in March 2026, up 11.8 percent from March 2025, while USDA Choice boneless sirloin steak averaged $14.12 a pound, up 18.5 percent from a year earlier. (bls.gov) Chicken still looks cheaper than beef by the pound, but it is not cheap in absolute terms. The same Bureau of Labor Statistics average-price data series put boneless chicken breast at about $4.17 a pound in March 2026, well below beef but still a meaningful input cost once labor, rent, and service are layered on in a dining room. (fred.stlouisfed.org) The government’s own livestock outlook in January said its 2026 report was tracking monthly changes in beef, poultry, eggs, and dairy markets as producers and buyers adjust to shifting supply. In practice, that means restaurants are repricing around the proteins customers notice first: chicken, burgers, and steak. (ers.usda.gov) The viral chicken got attention because the number was easy to share. The harder part for restaurants is that the underlying math on meat, especially beef, is still moving against them. (bonappetit.com)