To make sure all 15 of the Busch’s Fresh Food Market stores had enough turkeys over 22 pounds to sell for Thanksgiving this month, meat buyer John Taormina began ordering in January.
He didn’t end up with a single one of the big birds, which last year accounted for more than a third of what the Michigan company sold for the holiday.
The worst-ever U.S. outbreak of avian influenza destroyed almost 8 million turkeys earlier this year, and those that remain are smaller than normal. That’s boosting wholesale costs for grocers to a record, and consumer prices are the highest ever for this time of year. Americans will eat about 49 million turkeys for Thanksgiving holiday meals on Nov. 26, or roughly one of every five that will be consumed all year.
“The larger-sized birds will be difficult to get this year,” Taormina said, adding that the biggest available at his upscale stores will be 20 pounds to 22 pounds, which is big enough to feed about 15 people. Turkey is “center-of-the-plate for this holiday, so typically families get together and they’re looking for the bigger-sized” birds, he said.