In the Telegraph today
Restaurants swap steak for game as beef prices soar
Rising costs to farmers of machinery, transport and labour leave menus exploring alternativesPatrick GalbraithEnvironment Correspondent
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29 October 2025 11:55am GMT
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La Palombe, in Kensington, is adapting its menu because of the rising cost of beef Credit: David Rose for The Telegraph
Restaurants are taking steak off the menu and replacing it with game in response to a surge in the price of beef.
The wholesale cost of beef has risen by as much as 40pc over the last 12 months, leaving restaurant owners struggling to make a profit on everything from burgers to steaks.
In response, some establishments are now swapping the meat out for wilder alternatives. James Chiavarini, a restaurant owner in Kensington, west London, said that beef had become so expensive he was planning to change his menu.
The star dish at La Palombe, Mr Chiavarini’s newest restaurant, is a Côte de Boeuf for two – but may not be for much longer. Mr Chiavarini said: “You can’t start charging people £140 for Côte de Boeuf. We always like to have one big sharing dish, so we might swap beef out for a nice shoulder of fallow deer.”
Restaurant owners can buy deer carcasses for as little as £20 per animal. Venison is more affordable because deer are increasingly abundant across the UK. Deer levels are at their highest for 1,000 years due to the introduction of non-native species such as Chinese water deer, as well as the planting of crops that provide a year-round food source.
In Suffolk, restaurant owner Sam Carlisle has stopped buying beef entirely and has largely replaced it on his menus with wild duck and game.
He said: “Last week we got through 120 portions of wild duck. It just makes us much more likely to hit the [profit] margin that we have to get to, and margins are now more important than ever because the cost of employment, and the cost of every other input has gone up so much over the last couple of years.”
Mr Carlisle said the rise in employers’ National Insurance (NI) and the rise in minimum wage at the last Budget meant low-margin items like beef were no longer viable.
James Chiavarini, the owner of La Palombe, blames rises in National Insurance and the minimum wage for surging meat costs Credit: David Rose
Wild duck represents great value as they have no input costs – they do not need to be fed, looked after by a vet or kept in with expensive fencing.
Mr Carlisle is also selling pheasant and partridge, which are also affordable, as thousands of game birds are shot in Suffolk every week.
Tony Goodger, of the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers, said some restaurants were switching to pork. He said: “Pork is doing well because it’s good value and you’re seeing people using beef cut terminology on pork. So you’ve got ‘pork ribeye’.”
Georgie Greene at HG Walter, a butcher that supplies 1,400 restaurants across London and the South East said: “Many chefs have had to rethink their menus and become more creative. Some are keeping those prime cuts on the menu while reducing portion sizes to keep the dish affordable for their customers.”
James Runciman, a cattle farmer in Norfolk, said beef prices were soaring in part because there was very little hay to feed the cows with after a dry summer resulted in poor grass growth.
However, the national beef herd has been shrinking for years. Farmers have found it increasingly hard to make a profit following a surge in the cost of everything from feed to labour and machinery. A lack of local abattoirs also makes farming cattle unattractive as it involves a lot of haulage.
Jake Leach, co-owner of La Palombe, where the star dish is a Côte de Boeuf for two Credit: David Rose for The Telegraph
While the recent surge in prices should theoretically encourage more farmers to get into the market, it takes years to rear cattle and involves high upfront costs.
Mr Runciman said: “If a young farmer wants to come in and start a beef herd, they’ve got to invest and then wait for nearly three years before they can sell a finished animal.”
Pigs and sheep have a much quicker return on investment, making them more attractive. Mr Runicman said: “There just aren’t the number of cattle out there. People have just gone out of beef farming.”
Conservationists have welcomed the move from beef to venison, noting that deer, which consume up to 8pc of their body weight a day in foliage, need to be culled to allow trees and hedges to grow.
