Some Texas barbecue restaurants are taking brisket and beef ribs off the menu rather than charge what the meat now costs. The latest flashpoint is South Texas, where a Texas Monthly Top 50 smokehouse has dropped its signature cut.
Butter’s BBQ in Sinton announced this week that brisket will no longer be on the everyday menu after another wholesale hike of $1 a pound, MySA reported. Owner and pitmaster Andrew Soto said brisket was eating more than 70% of the restaurant’s grocery bill and that he would have to charge about $51 a pound to keep serving it. The shop had been selling brisket for $34 a pound. Soto said sales are on pace for a record-low year as grocery costs keep rising. Brisket may still be available by pre-order, with beef cheek moving onto the daily lineup.
Other Coastal Bend pits are making similar calls. Silverado Smokehouse owner William Paul Sissamis said he would rather park beef ribs than raise prices. David Page of Hoegemeyer’s Barbeque Barn told KGNS that beef prices have jumped about 40% in two years and that many restaurants have already discontinued products because they are “cost-prohibitive.” High diesel costs are adding to the squeeze.
The pressure is statewide. Smaller joints have closed this year as wholesale brisket that once ran a few dollars a pound has climbed toward $6 to $7. Name-brand spots with long lines can still move $30-plus-a-pound trays. Neighborhood pits that live on regulars cannot.
Behind the menu changes is a historically small U.S. cattle herd — about 86 million to 87 million head, the lowest in roughly 75 years — after years of drought, expensive feed and ranchers selling cows instead of rebuilding. Herd recovery takes years because ranchers must keep heifers back for breeding. USDA has been cutting its 2026 beef production forecast even as consumer demand stays strong.
For Texas barbecue, that means the cut that defines the plate is becoming a luxury item. Some pitmasters say they would rather take it off the board than ask customers to pay what the math now requires.
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