(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — With beef prices continuing to rise near all-time highs, Oak Brook-based Portillo’s hopes a forward looking move will help the hot dog chain stomach its higher operating costs.
Portillo’s has hedged over 66% of the meat it will need for the rest of 2023 and has locked in some supply prices for early 2024, according to a Bloomberg report.
According to Bloomberg, the company felt good about being able to lock in the prices and fit their budgets.
A Wall Street Journal report from earlier in the summer blamed rising prices, in part, on the “shrinking supply of cattle.”
“The number of cattle in the U.S. is at its lowest level in nearly a decade,” the paper reported.
Given the uncertainty around Russia potentially shutting Ukraine’s grain exports down, it’s still possible that rising costs could be passed along to Portillo’s consumers.
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