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CNN Live At Daybreak
Low Carb Atkin's Diet Craze Fattening Restaurant Revenue
Aired September 23, 2003 - 05:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Something else that's big -- beef. Diet conscious Americans are gobbling it up in the hopes of slimming down and that's causing a market crunch.
CNN's Lisa Leiter reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA LEITER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Gibson's Steakhouse in Chicago, business has never been better because of people like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want a burger. But I don't want a bun. I just want a burger.
LEITER: The low carb Atkin's diet craze that has slimmed down America is fattening restaurant revenue as people order high priced steaks and bypass the bread basket.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not this bread.
LEITER: But steakhouses may not be enjoying Porterhouse sized profits this year after all. This record demand for beef has led to record jumps in beef prices.
JOHN COLLETTI, GIBSON'S STEAKHOUSE: Depending on the item, the strip loins and short loins are, you could say, almost double what we paid last year. And we haven't raised our prices. We're eating most of those increases.
LEITER: It's not just demand pushing up prices. Beef supply is at its lowest level in 30 years. In May, the government banned Canadian imports because of mad cow concerns. And herd sizes are much smaller now because of many lean years for U.S. cattle farmers.
Farmers like Jamie Willrett, whose family has raised cattle for more than a century. His feed lot outside Chicago is back in the black after two years of losses.
JAMIE WILLRETT, CATTLEMAN: This is the first time that I've experienced a market like this. It's the first time we've seen beef demand with this type of an increase in the last five years. It's just incredible for our industry.
LEITER: Consumers could be in for a shock when they see prices at the grocery store up 12 percent from a year ago. That's a record, too. DAN BASEE, PRESIDENT, AGRESOURCE: And I think at some point there's going to be some consumer resistance to these higher prices, but the substitutability to another meat, whether it's pork or poultry, is not great right now because those prices have been moving upwards, also.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Lisa Leiter reporting.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 23, 2003 - 05:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Something else that's big -- beef. Diet conscious Americans are gobbling it up in the hopes of slimming down and that's causing a market crunch.
CNN's Lisa Leiter reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA LEITER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Gibson's Steakhouse in Chicago, business has never been better because of people like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want a burger. But I don't want a bun. I just want a burger.
LEITER: The low carb Atkin's diet craze that has slimmed down America is fattening restaurant revenue as people order high priced steaks and bypass the bread basket.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not this bread.
LEITER: But steakhouses may not be enjoying Porterhouse sized profits this year after all. This record demand for beef has led to record jumps in beef prices.
JOHN COLLETTI, GIBSON'S STEAKHOUSE: Depending on the item, the strip loins and short loins are, you could say, almost double what we paid last year. And we haven't raised our prices. We're eating most of those increases.
LEITER: It's not just demand pushing up prices. Beef supply is at its lowest level in 30 years. In May, the government banned Canadian imports because of mad cow concerns. And herd sizes are much smaller now because of many lean years for U.S. cattle farmers.
Farmers like Jamie Willrett, whose family has raised cattle for more than a century. His feed lot outside Chicago is back in the black after two years of losses.
JAMIE WILLRETT, CATTLEMAN: This is the first time that I've experienced a market like this. It's the first time we've seen beef demand with this type of an increase in the last five years. It's just incredible for our industry.
LEITER: Consumers could be in for a shock when they see prices at the grocery store up 12 percent from a year ago. That's a record, too. DAN BASEE, PRESIDENT, AGRESOURCE: And I think at some point there's going to be some consumer resistance to these higher prices, but the substitutability to another meat, whether it's pork or poultry, is not great right now because those prices have been moving upwards, also.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Lisa Leiter reporting.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
