One of Texas’ best barbecue restaurants is doing the unthinkable: taking brisket off the menu. Butter’s BBQ in the tiny South Texas city of Sinton announced it will no longer serve the crucial third of the Texas Trinity going forward due to rising prices and dropping sales.
“We apologize tremendously, we’ve done all we can to combat the constant price hikes, but we can no longer sustain our current business model with brisket eating up over 70% of our total grocery costs,” Butter’s BBQ’s statement read Monday.
“With the price hikes, also comes lack of sales, we’re on pace for a record low year, while the costs of groceries has continued to rise,” the statement continued. “Again we apologize to anybody this may affect, we love brisket more than anybody so this hurts us just as much as it does you guys.”
Butter’s BBQ, which is co-owned by Robert Rodriguez and Andrew “Butter” Soto and made the Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Joints list in 2025, said a new menu, sans brisket, will be shared later in the week. Since the announcement, hundreds of comments have poured in. Many fans and customers are shocked. Others have implored Butter’s to keep brisket on the menu, even if it means they have to pay a higher price. Other suggestions include offering brisket through different means, like preorders, a weekly special, or even a BYOB—bring your own brisket—option.
The brisket dilemma isn’t unique to just Butter’s BBQ. Across Texas and the country at large, restaurant and smokehouse operators have had to navigate an economy punctuated by rising beef prices. The country’s cattle herd inventory is still recovering as demand for brisket and other beef products soars.
Dining and Cooking