Had a call last month with a guy running three locations outside of Houston. Good operator. Knows what he's doing. But he was frustrated — said his brisket cost had gone up nearly 40% since 2022, and he couldn't just keep raising menu prices every quarter without running off the regulars who'd been eating lunch with him for six years.
That conversation stuck with me because I'm hearing some version of it almost every week now. Packer prices, pork shoulders, even chicken — everything's up. And the operators who are surviving (actually surviving, not just treading water) are the ones who've gotten creative about their menus without cutting corners on the cook.
The Brisket Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About
Let's just say it plainly: brisket is becoming a luxury item on commercial menus. When you're paying what you're paying for choice packers right now — and don't get me started on prime — the margin on a brisket plate is thin enough to make you nervous. Some guys I know are running 18-20% food cost on brisket alone before you even factor in wood, labor, and the gas bill.
So what are smart operators doing?
First off, they're not abandoning brisket. That would be suicide. But they're rethinking portion sizes and how brisket shows up on the menu. One operator I work with switched his standard brisket plate from a half-pound to six ounces, then added a second side and dropped the price by two dollars. His customers feel like they're getting a deal. His food cost on that plate went from 28% to 22%. Simple math, but it took him months to actually pull the trigger on it.
The other move — and this is something the high-volume catering guys figured out years ago — is using brisket in composed dishes where you can stretch the protein further. Brisket tacos. Loaded brisket nachos. Brisket burnt-end chili. You're still giving people that smoky beef flavor they came for, but you're getting three servings of perceived value out of what used to be one.
Pork Is Doing a Lot of Heavy Lifting Right Now
I've always said pork shoulder is the workhorse of any commercial BBQ operation. It's forgiving on the cook, it yields well, and pound-for-pound it's still the best margin protein on most menus. That hasn't changed. What's changed is how central it's become.
A lot of restaurants are quietly shifting their menu emphasis toward pulled pork without making it obvious. More combo plates that pair a couple ounces of brisket with a generous portion of pulled pork. Pork-forward sandwiches with premium toppings — jalapeño slaw, house pickles, that kind of thing — that justify a higher ticket without higher protein cost.
And here's something I've seen work really well for catering operators: building pulled pork into the default option on large orders. When someone books a 150-person event, you quote them pulled pork as the base and offer brisket as an upgrade tier. Most people stick with the default. The ones who want brisket pay a premium that actually reflects your cost. Everybody's happy.
The key to making pork work at volume is consistency. Which — and I'll say this because it's true — is where equipment actually matters. A rotisserie smoker that holds temp steady for 14 hours without you babysitting it is the difference between pulled pork that shreds clean and holds well on a steam table versus dried-out meat you're embarrassed to serve. I've seen guys running cheaper imported smokers lose 15% of their pork yield to hot spots and temp swings. At today's prices, that's real money walking out the door.
Chicken and Ribs: The Margin Plays That Require Discipline
Smoked chicken quarters are having a moment. Part of it is the inflation conversation — chicken is still relatively affordable — but part of it is that more operators are figuring out how to do them well. The trick, as anyone who's cooked competition chicken knows, is getting the skin right. Rubbery skin kills a chicken plate faster than anything.
We've got a customer running an MLR-850 who does about 300 chicken quarters a day for his lunch rush. He finishes them on a flattop for maybe two minutes per side right before plating. Crispy skin, juicy meat, and his food cost on that plate is under 20%. That's hard to beat.
Ribs are trickier. Spare ribs have held relatively stable, but baby backs are up enough that you need to be careful. I know operators who've quietly switched to St. Louis cut and just stopped offering baby backs altogether. Most customers don't notice or don't care — they want good ribs, period. The ones who do notice probably aren't your core lunch crowd anyway.
Sides and Drinks: Where the Real Money Lives
I'll be honest — I spent most of my career thinking about meat. The sides were an afterthought. But when you're fighting 30% protein inflation, your sides program becomes a profit center you can't ignore.
The operators who are winning right now have three or four sides with food costs under 15%. Mac and cheese. Baked beans. Coleslaw. Potato salad. Nothing fancy, but made well. And they're making sure those sides are visible and appealing so customers add them to orders without feeling upsold.
Some restaurants are adding a loaded baked potato or a smoked side (smoked corn, smoked cabbage — sounds weird, works great) as a premium option that costs almost nothing to produce but commands an extra two or three dollars. That's pure margin.
Drinks are even simpler. Fresh-brewed tea costs pennies. If you're not pushing sweet tea, unsweet tea, and lemonade — especially on to-go and catering orders — you're leaving money on the table.
The Equipment Conversation Nobody Wants to Have
Here's where I'll get a little direct: a lot of operators are bleeding money because their smokers can't run efficiently at the volumes they need. They're opening the door every 45 minutes to rotate racks or check temps. They're running two smaller units when one properly-sized Southern Pride could handle the load with better fuel economy. They're dealing with parts delays on imported equipment that leave them dead in the water for a weekend.
I talked to a caterer last year who was running an off-brand cabinet smoker. Nice guy, good intentions. But every time he did a big event, he had to start his cook at midnight because he couldn't trust the unit to hold temp unattended. He switched to an SP-1000 and now he starts at 4 AM like a normal person. Sleeps better. Cooks better. His propane bill actually went down because the thing isn't leaking heat through thin doors and bad seals.
When your margins are tight, equipment efficiency isn't a luxury. It's survival. And yeah, I'm biased — I've been selling and servicing Southern Pride smokers for decades through Southern Pride of Texas — but I'm biased because I've watched these units run for 20 years in commercial kitchens while cheaper alternatives get scrapped after five.
The Menu Is a Living Document
Something I've noticed about the operators who are actually thriving right now: they treat their menu like a work in progress. They're tracking food costs on every item monthly — sometimes weekly. They're pulling things that don't perform and testing new items that stretch their proteins further. They're not precious about it.
And they're paying attention to waste. This is huge. If you're trimming 20% off every brisket and that trim is going in the trash, you're throwing money away. Turn it into burnt ends. Grind it for smoked burgers. Put it in chili. Every ounce of protein that goes in the smoker should end up on a plate somehow.
The restaurants that figure this out will still be here in two years. The ones that try to ride it out without adapting — just hoping prices come back down — probably won't be. That's not pessimism. That's just how this works.
If you need help thinking through equipment that can handle the production demands of a restructured menu, give us a call at Southern Pride of Texas. We've been having these conversations with operators all year. Some of them just need a parts order. Some of them need to think about what their kitchen looks like in 2025. Either way, we're here.
Resources: Southern Pride of Texas | QSR Magazine | Restaurant Business Online
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Photo by Sydney Sang on Pexels.
About the Author: Earl has been competing in sanctioned BBQ events since the early 1990s and operates a commercial catering operation in Southeast Texas.