Small businesses grapple with rising meat, dairy prices
By Alexis Zotos
Click here for updates on this story
ST. LOUIS, Missouri (KMOV) — Inside City Greens Market in the Grove neighborhood in St. Louis City, the cost of inflation is hitting hard.
“We’re actually seeing increases every month with our meat that we purchase. Of course, this is a problem for us because we focus on providing affordable quality food for people in the neighborhood,” said Lacy Cagle, the executive director of the market.
The market is actually a non-profit. Members pay on a sliding scale based on income and the store sells food at cost. So as food prices rise, it impacts the customers greatly.
“For folks that already struggle to afford healthy food when we have to raise prices they feel the effects,” said Cagle.
Down the street at The Dogwood, an event space and wedding venue, business is booming once again. But inflation is taking a toll on the small business.
“Meat and dairy are the two things we’ve really seen our greatest impact,” said Kelly Spencer, owner of The Dogwood and The Social Affair, the catering company inside the venue.
As a catering company, they book clients a year to two years in advance, Spencer calculated the change since booking their 2019 clients.
“We saw our 42 percent increase,” she said. “It takes your breath away.”
They’re honoring every contract, but that means they take the hit after an already tough two years of the pandemic.
“We make less money, that’s the whole bottom line, our profit margins have narrowed so much,” she said.
Both City Greens Market and Social Affair pride themselves on sourcing local ingredients, but local farmers are also feeling the pinch.
The price of feed has increased, the price of gas increased, there is a backlog at processing plants and all of that trickles down to the prices you pay at the store. The latest data from the USDA shows food prices at home will have increased 2-3 percent this year and eating out will cost between 4-5 percent more this year.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
