Fayetteville restaurants seeing meat shortage and increased prices

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- Early afternoon inside Luigi's Italian Chophouse is unlike anything Nick Parrous has seen before. Business at the Italian family-style restaurant is down about 80 percent and he's had to let go of most of his staff. As if matters could get any worse, meat prices have drastically gone up.

"As we're getting new prices for this weekend, we're seeing some pretty dramatic increases even since last week. We're seeing increases for 60-70 percent on some of my main items that I purchase," Parrous said.

These are the effects of mass closures at meat processing plants across the country, Parrous said. High-end cuts of meat such as ribeyes, New York strips and filets are so expensive and elusive that he's already considering alternative options.

"There's other cuts of meat that we could utilize. Some steaks come from different parts of the animal and aren't in demand. Very good cut of meat but different from what they're used to," Parrous said.

He said suppliers predict more meat price increases are on the horizon. That means customers will pay more, too.

"Until we see changes and stabilizations we're going to have to react to the market," Parrous said.