Rising Beef Prices Have Fast Food Chains Pushing Customers To Order Chicken

NEW YORK — Rising beef prices might not mean the cost of a Whopper is going to skyrocket, but it could mean you'll be encouraged to order a chicken sandwich instead.

Beef prices have climbed in part because of rising demand overseas and droughts in recent years that have caused livestock producers to shrink their cattle herds. The average, year-to-date price for 81 percent lean ground beef is $2.18 per pound, said Kevin Good, an analyst at CattleFax, a Colorado-based tracker of the beef industry. That's up 24 percent from a year ago.

The soaring prices have hurt fast-food restaurants that feature beef as the centerpiece of their menus: Burger King, Wendy's and McDonald's — the nation's three biggest burger chains — all say they're dealing with higher beef costs.

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