The coronaviruses and the rise of the omicron variant are impacting the restaurant industry - and in the world of steaks, it has apparently resulted in a pile of meat as steakhouses cancel orders.
Andrew Neva, the owner and vice president of operations at the Northwest Meat Company in Chicago, has seen this impact firsthand.
Before I purchased all this product, I knew that everyone wanted to get out. I bought all this product in October, but had to pay for it in November, Neva explained.
All my high-end steakhouses canceled their reservations when omicron came in. I still haven't gotten paid for all this product, so as a result, I'm sitting on it. These unsell high-end cuts are now sitting in the wholesale meat distributor's freezer as the company waits for a change in demand.
Neva said in a phone interview with FOX Business Digital that the current surge of COVID-19 infections has resulted in more consumers sheltering in place rather than going out to dine at restaurants.
As of January 23, 2022, data from the Johns Hopkins COVID 19 Dashboard shows that more than 283,890 people have been afflicted with the respiratory virus in a 28 day period in Cook County, which is home to Chicago, the third-largest city in the U.S.
The state of Illinois as a whole has seen 752,060 infections in the same period, according to the online tracker.
He said that those were going to be the first to go and they were the first to go. Any product I bought for the high-end market is still on my shelf. Restaurants that haven't canceled wholesale orders are sitting on cuts of meat and are likely storing it in their coolers until regular dining business eats it all, Neva said.
Neva expects to see a modest industry rebound around Valentine's Day, but other factors that are possibly playing a role in thawed meat demand include rising prices and severe winter storms.
Inflation is rampant in our industry. Our food inflation is close to 20%. If you go out, it's going to cost you a lot more, Neva said.
We had a big snowstorm and the weather was a factor in it. If you get a huge snowstorm, forget about it. Neva said my clients are planning special events and all that. What people do will remain to be seen. He said that he's going to plan for it, but at the end of the day, it's going to be what it's going to be, and I'm just going to ride with it.