Meat costs are soaring during the pandemic, sending prices skyrocketing in grocery stores and on restaurants' menus

• The pandemic caused massive disruption in the meat supply chain, forcing grocery stores and restaurants to charge customers more.
• Restaurants are paying more than 70% more for beef, burger patties, and pork than they did before the pandemic according to restaurant-supply-chain company Buyers Edge Platform.
• In grocery stores, the average price of fresh meat was 15.6% higher in the last week of May than it was in 2019, according to Nielsen data.

As meat prices rise in grocery stores, a cost of a burger or steak when you're dining out is also getting more expensive.

Restaurants' food costs have soared by 38% during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Buyers Edge Platform. Some of the biggest increases in cost have been for meat, according to the restaurant supply chain company's analysis of $1.3 billion in purchases restaurants made in February and May.

The cost of standard beef cuts were up 87% from February to May. Fresh ground beef patties prices grew by 81% per case, while frozen beef patties were up 28%.

Chicken breasts were up 23% and pork cuts were up 70%. Only the cost of bacon fell, according to Buyers Edge Platform, with products' prices down 13%.

Buyers Edge CEO John Davie told Business Insider that diners will likely begin to start seeing higher menu prices soon.

"Generally, if the prices are significantly higher for 30 days or more, restaurants will have to start making decisions," Davie said.

"Those decisions could either involve raising prices or in eliminating the higher-priced items from the menu," Davie continued. "For example, some chains have removed brisket from their menus due to the escalated pricing."

The pandemic is making your burgers more expensive

Meat costs skyrocketed as plants across the US were forced to shut down as workers were infected with COVID-19. There have been at least 20,400 cases of COVID-19 and 74 worker deaths linked to meatpacking facilities across the US, according to the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.

Shoppers have already found themselves paying more for meat in grocery stores. In the last week of May, the average unit price of fresh meat was 15.6% higher than it was the same week last year, according to Nielsen data.

CoBank, a cooperative bank that is part of the Farm Credit System, said in a report in early May that pork and beef prices could increase by 20% compared to last year — a hike that economist Will Sawyer said would be unprecedented.

Restaurants and grocery stores are scrambling to find ways to turn a profit at a time when many customers are more cost-conscious than ever, especially as the US enters a recession.

Some restaurants faced backlash after adding COVID surcharges. After facing beef shortages, Wendy's tweaked marketing to highlight new chicken centric deals. And, plant-based meat makers are seeing the pandemic as an opportunity to boost sales.

Davie also says that some of the changes due to the pandemic could help make it easier for restaurants to simply raise menu prices, at least for a period of time.

"Ironically, some of the changes as a result of the coronavirus may actually make it easier for restaurants to be more dynamic in their pricing," Davie said. "As restaurants move to paper and digital menus (instead of reusable plastic ones), this provides them the flexibility to update pricing as needed with rising costs."