Ricardo Lopez was long reluctant to raise the prices at his Mission District restaurant La Vaca Birria, where he serves succulent beef braised in a red broth packed into burritos and tacos. But as of late, he simply has no other choice to remain afloat.
“I wish there was something else that I could do,” he said.
Just like seemingly every other restaurant in the Bay Area, prices have been increasing at La Vaca Birria, and customers aren’t always accepting of the change. So in a recent Instagram post, Lopez addressed a customer complaint about high prices and broke down the reasons his popular grilled cheese birria burrito has gone from $11 a couple of years ago to its current price of $22.
Simply put, the cost of ingredients and labor has gone up. The trend isn’t new: In the past few years, increasing costs have pushed the price of popular foods from pizza to fried chicken sandwiches ever higher, and burritos aren’t the exception.
Key ingredients for Lopez’s beef birria, like USDA Choice grade chuck, have gone up. When he began the business as a food truck about three years ago, it was $4 per pound; two years ago it was $4.50, and now it’s $6. Because the restaurant uses about 2,500 pounds of beef per month, the $2 increase costs $5,000 per month.
Other ingredients he uses like onions have jumped in price from around $11 to $80 for a 50-pound sack. Soybean oil has climbed from $20 to $50 per container. Even mesquite charcoal, a key component for his smoky grilled meats, is more expensive. (According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, food inflation was up 2.2% year-over-year in February, and overall inflation was 3.2%.)
“Nothing that I can think of has returned to pre-COVID pricing,” Lopez said.
Read the full story at the San Francisco Chronicle.
