What would you pay for a good steak?

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What would you pay for a good steak?

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

The question seemed simple enough. The answer proved to be much more complicated than anticipated. Not being much of a steak eater myself, I tried to gauge the price the restaurant industry puts on a standard 300g piece of sirloin. Checking out 15 different eateries varying from bog-standard steakhouses to upmarket fine dining establishments, the average cost is about R114, with the most reasonable steak coming in at R95 and the priciest spiking at R200. Which kind of makes me wonder how restaurants go about pricing this revered slab of meat.

Avidly against grain-fed cattle, Overture's Bertus Basson sources most of his grass-fed beef from a high-density farmer in Stellenbosch. “They're indigenous Nguni cattle and cost around R150 per kilogram. I have no problem with paying that, however, because I've met the cattle and know that they had a happy life and ate well.” He adds that a lot more factors come into play than merely the cost of the meat when bringing it from pasture to plate.

“If a restaurant orders 100kg of beef, and they have to mature it for 36 days, it basically means that they only get their money back after a month,” he explains. “At Overture we charge R135 for a 100g steak, which seems like an enormous mark-up, but people need to consider that I have eight qualified chefs working under me and full-time waiting staff that all need to be paid a salary. And then there's the high rent.”

When asked to give us the breakdown of how DW Eleven-13's 200g fillet steak ends up costing patrons R125, Marthinus Ferreira explains: “We serve only grass-fed beef, which costs about R89 per kilogram. When pricing it, we have to take into account that the meat still needs to be trimmed into portions and that the special marrow sauce it's served with takes three days to prepare. We go through about 180kg of beef bones per week, which yields only about four litres of sauce.”

So, how much are chefs prepared to pay when dining out? Wild Woods chef and food alchemist Peter Goffe-Wood says that it all depends on the establishment. “A better restaurant is more likely to source better quality beef, so you'd expect to pay more, whereas commercial steak restaurants have no reason to be charging exorbitant prices,” he says. “I'd be willing to pay around R100 for a good steak. If the place is asking more, it's a rip-off.”

Weight and cut are also major considerations, according to Carne SA owner Giorgio Nava. “I'd be happy to pay R150 for a 400g piece of grass-fed sirloin,” he says. “Of course, that would have to include sides, and the setting and service would have to be great.”

When eating grain-fed beef at a commercial steakhouse, Bertus says that patrons shouldn't be willing to pay more than R70 for a 200g steak. “Steakhouses are all about volume and turnover, not about the quality of the meat,” he explains. “Cattle weren't meant to eat grain, and they're often pumped full of antibiotics and hormones to increase their bulk, which really isn't healthy for the consumer. In a ideal world,” he continues, “I'd like so see beef become a premium item like foie gras or crayfish. I think we eat far too much meat.”