BBQ Explorer

Prices, with receipts

What barbecue actually costs

Sliced smoked brisket with a dark bark resting on butcher paper on a steel tray

Sliced brisket runs $18 to $43 a pound across the 16 restaurants in 13 cities that publish a per-pound price. Raw whole packer brisket cost $9.99 a pound on 2026-08-31. The distance between those two numbers is the most misunderstood figure in barbecue.

The price chain

Three prices, three different things being sold. The restaurant number is cooked meat, sliced to order, across a counter. The specialty retail number is a raw untrimmed packer you drive home and cook yourself. They are not the same pound.

Brisket priced per pound, from advertised grocery retail through raw specialty retail to a cooked restaurant menu.USDA advertised retail (context only): 1 USDA series at $4.67 per lb. Specialty retail, raw whole packer: 3 specialty retailers from $9.99 to $10.99 per lb. On a restaurant menu, cooked: 16 joint menu prices from $18.00 to $43.00 per lb. The USDA band is advertised grocery retail shown for context only and is not compared with the other two bands.USDA advertised retail (context only)USDA AMS — National Retail Report, Beef (AMS_3228): $4.67 per lb1 USDA series · $4.67 per lbSpecialty retail, raw whole packerBarth's Market — Brisket, Whole Packer, Prime: $9.99 per lbClark's Custom Meat — Brisket Whole: $10.49 per lbThe Meat House Market — Whole Packer Brisket, USDA Top Choice: $10.99 per lb3 specialty retailers · $9.99–$10.99 per lbOn a restaurant menu, cookedPanther City BBQ, Dallas-Fort Worth: $18.00 per lbCorky's BBQ, Memphis: $23.99 per lbTennessee's BBQ, Boston: $29.45 per lbLong Shot BBQ, Philadelphia: $30.00 per lbThe Pit Room, Houston: $30.00 per lbThe Tonk Chicago, Chicago: $31.00 per lbScott's Kitchen, Kansas City: $32.00 per lbKREUZ MARKET, Lockhart: $32.90 per lbFull Moon BBQ, Tuscaloosa: $33.00 per lbBEAST Craft BBQ Co, St. Louis: $33.99 per lbLewis Barbecue Atlanta, Atlanta: $35.00 per lbLewis Barbecue, Charleston: $35.00 per lbla Barbecue, Austin: $36.00 per lbSmoque BBQ, Chicago: $39.00 per lbFranklin Barbecue, Austin: $42.00 per lbSlow Bone BBQ, Dallas-Fort Worth: $43.00 per lb16 joint menu prices · $18.00–$43.00 per lb$0$5$10$15$20$25$30$35$40$45US dollars per pound

Every dot is one documented price per pound. Nothing here is averaged: the cooked band holds one dot per joint whose own menu documents a per-pound brisket price.

The top band is USDA advertised grocery retail for a whole packer brisket, shown for context only. It is a different product sold a different way, so it is not the basis of any markup claim and no band is divided by it.

The grocery line is included as context only. USDA AMS — National Retail Report, Beef (AMS_3228) publishes $4.67 a pound for a whole packer in its national advertised-retail report, but advertised grocery pricing is a promotional instrument, and we do not build a markup claim on it.

The spread is not about the city

The cheapest and the most expensive brisket in this dataset are in the same metro area. Panther City BBQ charges $18 a pound and Slow Bone BBQ charges $43, both in Dallas-Fort Worth. That is a 2.4× difference inside one driving distance. Grade, trim, service model and how long the pit has been running move the price far more than the map does.

Every published per-pound brisket price in the dataset, cheapest first. Read from each restaurant’s own menu.
RestaurantCityPer pound
Panther City BBQDallas-Fort Worth$18
Corky's BBQMemphis$23.99
Tennessee's BBQBoston$29.45
The Pit RoomHouston$30
Long Shot BBQPhiladelphia$30
The Tonk ChicagoChicago$31
Scott's KitchenKansas City$32
KREUZ MARKETLockhart$32.90
Full Moon BBQTuscaloosa$33
BEAST Craft BBQ CoSt. Louis$33.99
Lewis Barbecue AtlantaAtlanta$35
Lewis BarbecueCharleston$35
la BarbecueAustin$36
Smoque BBQChicago$39
Franklin BarbecueAustin$42
Slow Bone BBQDallas-Fort Worth$43

Work out the gap yourself

Almost every “restaurants mark brisket up 400%” claim online divides a menu price by a raw price. That arithmetic is wrong, because a brisket does not weigh the same when it comes off the pit as when it went on. Fat renders and moisture leaves. How much depends on the trim, the grade, the pit and the cook, and we have not measured it, so we are not going to publish a number and pretend we did. Set it yourself and watch what it does.

What a cooked pound of brisket actually costs

A raw pound of brisket is not a cooked pound. A packer loses weight in the smoker as fat renders and moisture evaporates, so a raw price per pound and a menu price per pound are not the same unit. Supply the missing variable — how much of the raw weight you think survives the cook — and the comparison becomes an honest one.

Default: Barth's Market — Brisket, Whole Packer, Prime, $9.99/lb.

50%

Your yield assumption. We do not publish a measured smoked-brisket yield, so this number is yours, not ours — nothing on this page measures it. Move the slider and the arithmetic below moves with it.

What one cooked pound costs

$9.99 ÷ 50% = $19.98 per cooked pound

At a 50% yield, one pound of finished, sliced brisket carries $19.98 of raw meat. The rest of that raw pound leaves the cook as rendered fat and steam before the meat reaches a plate.

KREUZ MARKET in Lockhart, TX charges $32.90 per pound. That is 1.6× the cooked-pound meat cost, a difference of $12.92 per pound. That difference has to cover labor, fuel, rent, service and profit; it is not any one of those on its own.

This shows the raw-meat share of one documented menu price at a yield you chose. It does not measure any joint’s real yield, its costs, or what it keeps.

How a menu is written tells you where it came from

We started counting per-pound prices and found that most of the country does not publish one. That is not a gap in the data. It is the data. Selling sliced meat by the pound is the Texas meat-market habit: you order at a counter, they weigh it, it comes on butcher paper. Elsewhere barbecue is sold as a plate, a sandwich or a slab, and the pound never appears.

How 20 cities sell barbecue: joints selling by the pound, by rib slab, by plate, and by sandwich.Counts are joints with a documented price, not menu items. Memphis, TN: of 4 joints with documented prices, 3 sell by the pound, 2 sell rib slabs, 3 sell plates, 2 sell sandwiches. Austin, TX: of 3 joints with documented prices, 2 sell by the pound, 0 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 1 sell sandwiches. Chicago, IL: of 2 joints with documented prices, 2 sell by the pound, 1 sell rib slabs, 2 sell plates, 1 sell sandwiches. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX: of 3 joints with documented prices, 2 sell by the pound, 1 sell rib slabs, 3 sell plates, 0 sell sandwiches. Kansas City, MO: of 5 joints with documented prices, 2 sell by the pound, 3 sell rib slabs, 3 sell plates, 3 sell sandwiches. Lockhart, TX: of 2 joints with documented prices, 2 sell by the pound, 0 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 0 sell sandwiches. Atlanta, GA: of 3 joints with documented prices, 1 sell by the pound, 2 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 1 sell sandwiches. Boston, MA: of 3 joints with documented prices, 1 sell by the pound, 2 sell rib slabs, 1 sell plates, 1 sell sandwiches. Charleston, SC: of 2 joints with documented prices, 1 sell by the pound, 1 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 0 sell sandwiches. Houston, TX: of 2 joints with documented prices, 1 sell by the pound, 0 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 0 sell sandwiches. Philadelphia, PA: of 3 joints with documented prices, 1 sell by the pound, 2 sell rib slabs, 2 sell plates, 2 sell sandwiches. Raleigh, NC: of 5 joints with documented prices, 1 sell by the pound, 1 sell rib slabs, 1 sell plates, 2 sell sandwiches. St. Louis, MO: of 4 joints with documented prices, 1 sell by the pound, 3 sell rib slabs, 1 sell plates, 3 sell sandwiches. Tuscaloosa, AL: of 2 joints with documented prices, 1 sell by the pound, 0 sell rib slabs, 1 sell plates, 0 sell sandwiches. Birmingham, AL: of 2 joints with documented prices, 0 sell by the pound, 0 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 1 sell sandwiches. Charlotte, NC: of 2 joints with documented prices, 0 sell by the pound, 0 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 0 sell sandwiches. Columbia, SC: of 2 joints with documented prices, 0 sell by the pound, 0 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 0 sell sandwiches. Durham, NC: of 4 joints with documented prices, 0 sell by the pound, 1 sell rib slabs, 2 sell plates, 1 sell sandwiches. Miami, FL: of 3 joints with documented prices, 0 sell by the pound, 1 sell rib slabs, 1 sell plates, 3 sell sandwiches. New York, NY: of 5 joints with documented prices, 0 sell by the pound, 1 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 2 sell sandwiches.By the poundRib slabsPlatesSandwichesHighlighted rows: by-the-pound prices, no rib slabs, no plates.012345Memphis, TN: of 4 joints with documented prices, 3 sell by the pound, 2 sell rib slabs, 3 sell plates, 2 sell sandwiches.Memphis, TN4 joints priced3232Austin, TX: of 3 joints with documented prices, 2 sell by the pound, 0 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 1 sell sandwiches.Austin, TX3 joints pricedno slabs, no plates2001Chicago, IL: of 2 joints with documented prices, 2 sell by the pound, 1 sell rib slabs, 2 sell plates, 1 sell sandwiches.Chicago, IL2 joints priced2121Dallas-Fort Worth, TX: of 3 joints with documented prices, 2 sell by the pound, 1 sell rib slabs, 3 sell plates, 0 sell sandwiches.Dallas-Fort Worth, TX3 joints priced2130Kansas City, MO: of 5 joints with documented prices, 2 sell by the pound, 3 sell rib slabs, 3 sell plates, 3 sell sandwiches.Kansas City, MO5 joints priced2333Lockhart, TX: of 2 joints with documented prices, 2 sell by the pound, 0 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 0 sell sandwiches.Lockhart, TX2 joints pricedno slabs, no plates2000Atlanta, GA: of 3 joints with documented prices, 1 sell by the pound, 2 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 1 sell sandwiches.Atlanta, GA3 joints priced1201Boston, MA: of 3 joints with documented prices, 1 sell by the pound, 2 sell rib slabs, 1 sell plates, 1 sell sandwiches.Boston, MA3 joints priced1211Charleston, SC: of 2 joints with documented prices, 1 sell by the pound, 1 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 0 sell sandwiches.Charleston, SC2 joints priced1100Houston, TX: of 2 joints with documented prices, 1 sell by the pound, 0 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 0 sell sandwiches.Houston, TX2 joints pricedno slabs, no plates1000Philadelphia, PA: of 3 joints with documented prices, 1 sell by the pound, 2 sell rib slabs, 2 sell plates, 2 sell sandwiches.Philadelphia, PA3 joints priced1222Raleigh, NC: of 5 joints with documented prices, 1 sell by the pound, 1 sell rib slabs, 1 sell plates, 2 sell sandwiches.Raleigh, NC5 joints priced1112St. Louis, MO: of 4 joints with documented prices, 1 sell by the pound, 3 sell rib slabs, 1 sell plates, 3 sell sandwiches.St. Louis, MO4 joints priced1313Tuscaloosa, AL: of 2 joints with documented prices, 1 sell by the pound, 0 sell rib slabs, 1 sell plates, 0 sell sandwiches.Tuscaloosa, AL2 joints priced1010Birmingham, AL: of 2 joints with documented prices, 0 sell by the pound, 0 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 1 sell sandwiches.Birmingham, AL2 joints priced0001Charlotte, NC: of 2 joints with documented prices, 0 sell by the pound, 0 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 0 sell sandwiches.Charlotte, NC2 joints priced0000Columbia, SC: of 2 joints with documented prices, 0 sell by the pound, 0 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 0 sell sandwiches.Columbia, SC2 joints priced0000Durham, NC: of 4 joints with documented prices, 0 sell by the pound, 1 sell rib slabs, 2 sell plates, 1 sell sandwiches.Durham, NC4 joints priced0121Miami, FL: of 3 joints with documented prices, 0 sell by the pound, 1 sell rib slabs, 1 sell plates, 3 sell sandwiches.Miami, FL3 joints priced0113New York, NY: of 5 joints with documented prices, 0 sell by the pound, 1 sell rib slabs, 0 sell plates, 2 sell sandwiches.New York, NY5 joints priced0102Joints with a documented price

Each bar counts joints, not menu items: a joint selling three plate combos still counts once. Cities with fewer than two priced joints are not shown, and a zero is a documented absence in the menus reviewed, not a claim about the whole city.

In Lockhart every restaurant that publishes prices publishes them by the pound, and not one sells a plate. In Birmingham, Charlotte, Columbia not one does. The chart highlights every city where meat is sold by the pound and nobody sells a rib slab or a plate: Austin, Lockhart, Houston, all of them in Texas. The same barbecue tradition that decides whether the sauce is vinegar or molasses also decides the unit on the price list.

Beyond brisket

The same dataset carries 55 published per-pound prices across 5 cuts at 20 restaurants.

Published per-pound price range by cut.
CutRestaurantsCheapestDearest
Brisket16$18$43
Pulled pork12$8$32
Ribs7$20$44
Sausage5$12.99$30
Turkey7$19.50$32

Method, and what this does not claim

Every restaurant price here was read from that restaurant’s own published menu and stored with the line it came from and the date it was read. A price only enters the dataset when the menu states a per-pound rate. A half-pound price is never doubled and a plate price is never divided, because both would invent a number the restaurant never published.

Raw prices come from The Brisket Index, which records published prices from named retailers every Monday. USDA wholesale boxed-beef quotes are deliberately absent from the chain above: a different cut, in a different preparation state, sold through a different channel, and converting it into a retail comparison would be exactly the sort of arithmetic this page is arguing against.

This is a census of published menus, not a statistical sample of American barbecue. It says what these restaurants publish. It does not say what the average American pays, and it is not evidence about anyone’s margins.

Download the dataset (CSV)

FAQ

How much does brisket cost at a barbecue restaurant?

Across 16 restaurants in 13 cities that publish a per-pound price, sliced brisket runs from $18 to $43 a pound. Most sit in the low thirties. Every price on this page is quoted from the restaurant's own published menu and dated.

Why is restaurant brisket so much more expensive than raw brisket?

Raw whole packer brisket ran $10.99–$10.49 a pound at the specialty butchers we track on 2026-08-31. The gap is not all profit. A brisket loses weight in the smoker, so a pound of raw meat does not become a pound of served meat, and the restaurant is also paying for twelve hours of fuel, overnight labor, rent and service. The calculator on this page lets you set the yield yourself and see what the gap actually is.

Do all barbecue restaurants sell meat by the pound?

No, and which way a joint prices its menu tells you which tradition it came from. Of the 64 restaurants in this dataset that publish prices, only some sell by the pound. In Lockhart, Texas every one does and none sells a plate. In New York, none of the five does.

Where does this price data come from?

Restaurant prices are read from each restaurant's own published menu, stored with the quoted line and the date it was read. Raw prices come from The Brisket Index, which records published prices from named retailers every Monday. Nothing is averaged, estimated or carried forward.