Fast-Food Chains Allege Price Fixing By Big 4 Packers

.
.
(.)

A handful of highly recognizable fast-food restaurant chains have filed suit in Florida against the nation’s four largest beef packers, alleging price fixing.

Sonic, Arby’s, Burger King, Whataburger, Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. filed a 94-page complaint against Cargill, Tyson, JBS and National Beef Packing Co., claiming that the four have been fixing prices and artificially constraining beef supplies since 2015.

The plaintiffs ask for a jury trial and financial judgements equal to three times the damages the restaurants say they sustained due to the alleged price fixing.

Similar claims were made previously in a lawsuit filed by R-CALF USA and the National Farmers Union. Last month the federal district court in Minnesota consolidated the antitrust claims of several large retailers and wholesalers several with the R-CALF and NFU suit.

Related Stories:

Syscon Sues Big 4 Packers Alleging Price Fixing

 

Latest News

Markets: Cash Cattle Rebound, Futures Notch Four-Week High
Markets: Cash Cattle Rebound, Futures Notch Four-Week High

After a mostly sluggish April, market-ready fed cattle saw a solid rally in the North and steady money in the South. Futures markets began to look past the psychologically bearish H5N1 virus news.

APHIS To Require Electronic Animal ID for Certain Cattle and Bison
APHIS To Require Electronic Animal ID for Certain Cattle and Bison

APHIS issued its final rule on animal ID that has been in place since 2013, switching from solely visual tags to tags that are both electronically and visually readable for certain classes of cattle moving interstate.

How Do Wind, Solar, Renewable Energy Effect Land Values?
How Do Wind, Solar, Renewable Energy Effect Land Values?

“If we step back and look at what that means for farmland, we're taking our energy production system from highly centralized production facilities and we have to distribute it,” says David Muth.

Ranchers Concerned Over Six Confirmed Wolf Kills in Colorado
Ranchers Concerned Over Six Confirmed Wolf Kills in Colorado

Six wolf depredations of cattle have been confirmed in Colorado from reintroduced wolves.

Profit Tracker: Packer Losses Mount; Pork Margins Solid
Profit Tracker: Packer Losses Mount; Pork Margins Solid

Cattle and hog feeders find dramatically lower feed costs compared to last year with higher live anumal sales prices. Beef packers continue to struggle with negative margins.

Applying the Soil Health Principles to Fit Your Operation
Applying the Soil Health Principles to Fit Your Operation

What’s your context? One of the 6 soil health principles we discuss in this week’s episode is knowing your context. What’s yours? What is your goal? What’s the reason you run cattle?