Bay area brisket price=$100+

Somebody has to pay to unwrap the cyro remove every morsel of fat and cut it in to 2-3 lb chunks. prices here average 1.77 -2.18 lb. Here's the straight skinny "DON'T PAY SOMEONE ELSE PLAY WITH YOUR MEAT HANDLE IT YOURSELF YOU KNOW HOW YOU LIKE IT":biggrin1:

Down here the most I pay from my local butcher is 4.99/lb and he brings in the best cuts from a farm.

Bludawg said:

Somebody has to pay to unwrap the cyro remove every morsel of fat and cut it in to 2-3 lb chunks. prices here average 1.77 -2.18 lb. Here's the straight skinny "DON'T PAY SOMEONE ELSE PLAY WITH YOUR MEAT HANDLE IT YOURSELF YOU KNOW HOW YOU LIKE IT":biggrin1:

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+1, and Amen!

You need to search more. Wal Mart has choice Brisket packers here every day of the week for $1.99 a pound, and sometimes a sale here and there where it drops even lower. SHOP AROUND, and you will find lower prices. I am in Texas, but I'm positive you can find the deals up there in Liberal land.
And not to rub it in, but I can get whole Prime packers here for $3.19 a pound, so I do not know why it is so expensive where you are. Harris ranch is one of the largest beef producers in California and the west, and they are only a few hours from you. So it is not a supply problem. It doesn't seem right

+2 Unfortunately, the business is so profit driven these days, that this is the reason why you see less availability of certain c.o.v. Product, ie Packer brisket, in many areas because you can and will be charged more for anything that has had the fire trimmed out of it. Same with c.o.v. Flats... Meat counter dude just prices them and dumps them in the counter.

ssv3 said:

Down here the most I pay from my local butcher is 4.99/lb and he brings in the best cuts from a farm.

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I live in L.A.
Care to share who your butcher is?

I buy from Cash and Carry, in Oakland, and I don't know why I am telling you this.

I paid $2.99 for the Choice Angus brisket I cooked last weekend. It gets as low as $2.19 for Select grade packers there. I have had many great cooks with the briskets and ribs from there.

Again, I don't really think I should have shared this info. If I go there and the meat is picked over, I know who to look at.

Left Coast

Blame everything on your predecessor. It's Bush's fault.

On the other hand W lives in Texas. Plenty of briskets to be had at 1.99
HEB, WalMart,Albertsons, etc etc etc

And thank you for teaching the locals out there what's good in the world.

Kenn007BBQ said:

Yeah up here in way too liberalland, the Walmart don't carry brisket. (or at least I never seen them here.) the problem is that I don't think I people even know what a brisket is up here. I didn't know before I became a brethren.

One time I made burnt ends for a large church Picnic and nobody knew what a burnt end was. At first they were like, eewww I don't want no burnt food, then they saw it, tried it, and kept calling them beef tips :crazy:

I'm trying to educate them yall!

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In Texas, most people haven't heard of a Tri Tip, but I understand it's a staple in California.

silverfinger said:

I live in L.A.
Care to share who your butcher is?

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Not at all. I'm in the Foothills in Crescenta Valley. The place is called Harmony Farms on Foothill Blvd in La Crescenta. They've got anything you want from gators to frogs and in between.

http://harmonyfarmsonline.com/

They are beef tips, and don't be so quick to condemn your new home. I learned to BBQ from a man who was born in Southern Oklahoma and learned to cook in Texas. Most of Richmond and East Oakland is folks from down Texas, Oklahoma or Louisiana way, and many of them are very fine cooks.

Every Sunday morning, I walk out the front door to the smell of hickory and caramelized pork wafting in from East Oakland. Don't go to Walmart. Unless you want something really fancy, you can always find packers at Smart and Final, as well as Cash and Carry. You don't need better meat than what you can get from those two places.

Kenn007BBQ said:

Yeah up here in way too liberalland, the Walmart don't carry brisket. (or at least I never seen them here.) the problem is that I don't think I people even know what a brisket is up here. I didn't know before I became a brethren.

One time I made burnt ends for a large church Picnic and nobody knew what a burnt end was. At first they were like, eewww I don't want no burnt food, then they saw it, tried it, and kept calling them beef tips :crazy:

I'm trying to educate them yall!

Click to expand...

You're right! Not many walmarts down here or at least around L.A. and they don't carry briskets at all.

Bludawg said:

Somebody has to pay to unwrap the cyro remove every morsel of fat and cut it in to 2-3 lb chunks. prices here average 1.77 -2.18 lb. Here's the straight skinny "DON'T PAY SOMEONE ELSE PLAY WITH YOUR MEAT HANDLE IT YOURSELF YOU KNOW HOW YOU LIKE IT":biggrin1:

Click to expand...

but what if paying someone else to play with your meat is what you like :shocked:

landarc said:

Again, I don't really think I should have shared this info. If I go there and the meat is picked over, I know who to look at.

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Thanks Bob!

danged meat munchkins!!!

ssv3 said:

Not at all. I'm in the Foothills in Crescenta Valley. The place is called Harmony Farms on Foothill Blvd in La Crescenta. They've got anything you want from gators to frogs and in between.

http://harmonyfarmsonline.com/

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+1 on Harmony Farms

I've also had recent success getting a 13# packer at the Burbank Costco for $2.59/lb. I'd never seen them carry packers before.

Prices......How does a business come up with the prices they will charge? Well simply it needs to cover the cost of the item, and all associated secondary costs. Secondary would be labor, freight, utilities, limited shelf life, insurance, carrying cost, etc... Last factory in what the potential customer will agree to pay. Pretty much that all is the long definition of "Supply and Demand".

Someone had mentioned their Wal-Mart does not carry brisket. You can guarantee that if that Wal-Mart had a "real" demand for them, they would carry them.

Brisket 1.99/lb in TX vs 6.99/lb elsewhere. Maybe the demand in TX is greater. Maybe both locations have good demand, but the TX location has more locations to buy for and can split a much larger buy between multiple storefronts.

It is not rocket science to figure a cash and carry in TX will buy way more brisket than Joes Butcher Shop in LA or even Atlanta.

Retail is not set up in a way that the retailer is just ripping off the customers, although you see that thrown around all the time from people who really are just not in tune with the full picture. Just because a person and their 3 freinds want brisket,this does not create a "demand".

Chain stores have buying groups. They can work together to make substantial purchases and then split the delivery among multiple locations, thereby limiting the risk of any one location. Your mom and pop stores unless they are in a buying co-op just dont have this option.

There are also regional influences on pricing. Price fresh fruits and veggies in Canada, and Alaska. Price Lumber in Hawaii. I live a few miles from a fruit farm. We buy Asian Pears for 2.00 a basket. The basket usually has 10-12 pears. If we go an hour south and price them at a grocery store, they can be 1.00/ea or more.

Math you can see and realize....
item cost 5.00
Add some freight to get it to you.
Add some labor to receive it.
Add some labor to put it out on display
Add some insurance to cover any potential loss
Add carrying cost ( usually around 3% a month )
Add the labor to sell the item
Add the labor for any value added service you may do to the item ( repackage, cut, trim,etc..)
Add any cost of materials involved if you do repackage item
Add the packaging to allow customer to take item home
Add the labor to buy new item plus any needed supplies associated with the item.
Repeat process

So the fool they buys it for 5 and sells if for 7 or even 10 is not making much if any money. The one that buys for 5 and sells for 12.50 is starting to make some money.

I just bought one at GFS for $2.59 /lb for a choice 15 lb'er. Won't know if it's any good until next week, stay tuned.