LUBBOCK, Texas --Meat prices had risen over the last six months, prompting one local restaurant, Smoked and Chopped Barbecue, to adjust its menu prices. This was something owner Shawn Stephens, did not want to do, but had to.

"I feel bad because I have people that eat in here three times a week for 10 years, and there may be times where now they only come one time a week, and that really affects us," Stephens said.

According to Stephens, the normal price for meat was around $3 per pound, however, that has almost doubled in the last few months.

"I am buying meat anywhere from $5.20 a pound to about $5.85 a pound, brisket," Stephens said.

Stephens believed the price change was due to several reasons.

"You know, labor wages are going up. I think there are some people that, you know, tari

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