Americans celebrating Thanksgiving this year are more likely to purchase a bigger turkey as gatherings are larger than in previous years since the pandemic amid a decline in prices for the bird, according to the CEO of food manufacturer Butterball Jay Jandrain.
"We're expecting an average of about nine people around a table this year, and those numbers are certainly up," Jandrain said.
"With COVID, people weren't able to get together like they normally would in the past, so these are back to pre-pandemic numbers, which is great."
He added that supply was strong enough to keep up with demand “so there’s plenty of turkey for everybody this Thanksgiving.”
The overall Thanksgiving meal is about 4.5% cheaper this year than in 2022, with the average cost of a 16-pound turkey down 5.6%, according to a survey.
"When you can buy a turkey for about a dollar per pound, compare that to any other protein, and it's really hard to come up with a solution that is going to be better than that from an economic standpoint," Jandrain said.
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