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A historic cattle shortage has pushed brisket to record prices and forced several Texas BBQ joints to close. Buc-ee’s, whose brisket sandwich is its top-selling food, isn’t immune to the squeeze, but its size gives it protection the small pitmasters don’t have.
If you’ve ever pulled off a Texas highway for gas and a Buc-ee’s brisket sandwich, you may have noticed the price creeping up. There’s a reason, and it’s the same one closing barbecue joints across the state: beef has gotten shockingly expensive.
So it’s fair to ask, as road-trippers have started to: could Buc-ee’s, whose brisket is the stuff of legend, feel the pinch too?
The Texas beef shortage, explained
The problem starts on the ranch. The U.S. cattle herd has shrunk to its smallest size in about 75 years, with roughly 86.2 million head of cattle as of the start of 2026, the lowest count since 1951. Years of drought, rising feed costs, and the loss of nearly 1,000 acres of Texas ranch land a day to development have all thinned the supply.
The result is sticker shock. The average retail price of beef hit a record of about $9.64 a pound this spring. And the USDA warns prices could climb another 10% to 18% before the end of the year, with 2027 looking just as tight. There’s also a looming worry along the southern border: screwworm, a flesh-eating livestock parasite that could squeeze supply even further if it spreads.
Why brisket is getting hit hardest
Brisket sits right in the crosshairs, for a simple reason: each cow yields only two of them. Fewer cows means fewer briskets, full stop.
Wholesale brisket recently ran around $7.50 a pound, up sharply from about $2.60 a pound in early 2020, a jump of nearly 190% in a few years. For a Texas barbecue restaurant, brisket is the most popular item, the most expensive to buy, and the one that loses the most weight during its long smoke.
That combination has been brutal. Several beloved Texas spots have already closed, and one Houston pitmaster told The Washington Post that owners are now “one bad week from closing.”
Buc-ee’s runs on brisket
Which brings us to Buc-ee’s. The brisket sandwich isn’t just a menu item there. It’s the chain’s single best-selling food, reportedly outselling even its famous 69-cent fountain drinks.
The operation is serious about it. Buc-ee’s smokes its brisket for 12 to 14 hours at a central Texas smokehouse, then ships it to stores daily, where employees hand-chop and sauce it fresh. That brisket anchors a whole lineup of beef items, from the standard sandwich to the XXL “Big Buckin’” version, brisket tacos, and a three-meat sandwich, plus the beef jerky that’s a road-trip staple. When beef gets expensive, a lot of the Buc-ee’s menu gets more expensive to make.
And prices have already been climbing. The XXL brisket sandwich now runs around $13, and regulars have grumbled on social media that the hot-food prices seem to tick up regularly.
Could Buc-ee’s really be affected?
Here’s the honest answer: yes and no.
Yes, in the sense that Buc-ee’s buys enormous amounts of beef, so record brisket prices hit its costs like everyone else’s, and that pressure tends to land on the menu board eventually.
But no, not in the way it’s hitting the small guys. Buc-ee’s is a giant. It runs some of the largest convenience stores on earth across dozens of locations, which gives it buying power and supplier relationships a neighborhood smokehouse can only dream of. Just as important, brisket is only one slice of its business.
Buc-ee’s also makes money on gas, Beaver Nuggets, jerky, fudge, drinks, and a mountain of merchandise. A small barbecue joint that lives or dies on brisket can be one bad week from closing. A chain that sells you a tank of gas, a brisket sandwich, and a beaver T-shirt on the same stop is far better cushioned.
So the realistic effect on Buc-ee’s isn’t closure or empty warming racks. It’s steady price increases, the kind fans are already noticing.
What it means for your road trip
For travelers, the takeaway is reassuring with an asterisk. Your Buc-ee’s brisket stop isn’t in danger of vanishing, and the “Fresh brisket on the board” call isn’t going quiet. The chain has the scale to keep the brisket coming even in a tight beef market.
The cost is the part that may keep moving. As long as cattle stay scarce and beef stays near record prices, the number next to that brisket sandwich is likely to keep inching up.
Buc-ee’s brisket isn’t going anywhere. But the same shortage squeezing Texas pitmasters is nudging its price higher too, one road trip at a time, and that pressure isn’t expected to ease through the rest of 2026.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
The Washington Post (via MSN) — the Texas BBQ closures, Roegels’ “one bad week from closing” quote, and the brisket price increases
USDA / The Hill / NewsNation — the 86.2 million head cattle count, the 75-year low, and the causes (drought, land loss, disease)
Dallas Observer / Prism News — the brisket wholesale prices, the 189%-since-2020 jump, and the two-briskets-per-cow detail
The Takeout / Mashed / Southern Living — Buc-ee’s brisket as its top-selling food, the central smokehouse operation, and the daily shipping
Austin American-Statesman (via AOL) — the XXL brisket sandwich pricing and customer reaction
