Britons planning summer barbecues are facing sharply higher costs for meat, with supermarket own-label beef quarter-pounders now costing nearly £4 for a four-pack, a 53% increase on last year, according to price analysts Assosia. The price of chicken has also risen, with a 600g pack of chicken thighs costing £5.54, up 13% from a year ago.
Andrew Keeble, managing director of Heck Sausages, described the situation as a “perfect storm” driven by avian flu and industry moves to reduce chicken numbers per shed on welfare grounds. “There aren’t enough sheds, to put it bluntly, and that is driving availability prices through the roof,” he told the BBC.
The cost of accompaniments has also increased: cheese slices and brioche buns are more expensive, while soft drink prices have risen due to soaring packaging costs, with polymer plastic prices more than doubling since November 2024. Drinks brands are also facing higher costs for sugar and fruit concentrates.
Overall food price inflation rose to 4% in July, up from 3.7% in June, according to the British Retail Consortium. BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said households would have noticed higher grocery bills, with staples such as meat and tea hit hardest by tighter global supplies.
The hospitality sector is also feeling the pinch, with the CGA Prestige foodservice price index recording a 2% month-on-month increase in June. Reuben Pullan of CGA by NIQ warned that this upswing in inflation is “yet another challenge to hospitality in the crucial summer months”, forcing some businesses to push menu prices up further.
