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Surf-and-Turf Specials Cut From U.S. Menus in Sign of Price Pain
- Lower-income shoppers are shifting to private-label brands
- Economic data now show food spending is starting to wobble
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For years, Fridays at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s, a sprawling restaurant chain in the Southeast, meant one thing: the steak-and-shrimp special.
But in January, Chief Executive Officer Chris Elliott saw signs that consumers were feeling the squeeze of soaring inflation. So he took the $12.99 surf-and-turf dish off the specials list, replaced it with a fish-and-chips platter and slapped a $9.99 price tag on it. Even with the change, though, customer traffic has been flagging in recent weeks.