As Beef Prices Rise, So Does The Price Of Chipotle’s Steak Burritos: Restaurant Will Charge More For Non-Chicken Meat
Chipotle will be hiking up steak prices due to the rising cost of beef, a trend that’s hitting several fast food restaurants at once, including Burger King.
The Mexican chain restaurant, which has over 1,600 locations, announced Tuesday that it would begin charging more for its burritos, tacos, and bowls as costs rise for its ingredients — especially beef. Currently, Chipotle doesn’t charge that much more for its steak filling compared to the chicken, but Chief Financial Officer Jack Hartung said that they will “widen” the “very narrow gap between our steak burrito and our chicken burrito.” So the cost of steak may rise between 4 and 6 percent, or about 32 to 50 cents per burrito. “We’re going to allow our customers to choose whether they want to pay the highest price of steak,” Hartung told The New York Daily News.
Burger King has begun marketing its chicken options more aggressively in light of the rising beef prices, bringing the “Subservient Chicken” ad campaign back under the spotlight. In 2004, Subservient Chicken was created to promote Burger King's TenderCrisp chicken sandwich. It was a Web campaign that involved an interactive chicken that responded to commands that people typed.
"The chicken will help us launch the Big King in a big way," Eric Hirschhorn, chief marketing officer at Burger King, told USA Today. "He will stick around going forward."