Inflation and a rise in bird flu are combining to make turkey more expensive and harder to find this Thanksgiving.
Larkey Market & Deli in Walnut Creek said that roughly between 80-90% of their sandwiches contain turkey.
Kevin Pruitt, the owner of the deli said in the past month, his turkey supplier has reduced his typical order by 25%.
“I’m ordering usually four cases three times a week. Now, I can only order those four cases once a week,” he said.
It’s happening as the country deals with its worst outbreak of the bird flu since 2015.
The current virus is highly transmissible and deadly. According to the CDC, so far this year, it’s killed more than 49 million birds.
“We have lost 300,000 turkeys in the last couple of months from the bird flu in California,” said Bill Mattos, President of the California Poultry Federation.
Mattos said the bird flu is causing a shortage for turkeys, especially if you’re looking for a farm fresh, organic turkey for the holidays. Part of the issue, if a single bird in a flock gets the virus, the entire flock has to be destroyed.
But Mattos said that he’s not hitting the panic button just yet.
“We don’t think there’s going to be a shortage of birds overall, because if you don’t get a fresh and natural turkey from California, you will probably be able to buy a frozen turkey from out of state,” he said.
But when customers do find that turkey, they should expect a price jump from last year, due to a combination both the bird flu and high inflation.
“They’re going to be up about 60 to 75% higher than last year. So you if you bought one for $1.50, $2 last year, It may be $3 this year, a pound,” Pruitt said.
As for Pruitt, he’ll rely on biweekly updates from his supplier to see if things continue to get worse. But with turkey making up such a large percentage of his sales, he’ll have to get creative to stay afloat.
“I’m trying to promote other types of meat, offset demand for the turkey, but we run out every day,” Pruitt said.
