PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — There’s nothing quite like the smell and taste of sizzling bacon, but don’t be surprised if it takes a bigger hit on your wallet.

“We started purchasing it at around $30 a case and now we’re up to about $53 per case,” says Fawnna Turner at Kelly O’s in the Strip District.

The price of bacon for customers is now up to $3.69 for just three slices.

Some blame the drought which has killed corn, an important feedstock.

“Everybody has been projecting stronger market because of fuel costs and grain costs and that kind of thing,” notes Ray Turkas, owner of Strip District Meats.

Turkas sells meat and poultry both wholesale and retail. He says what’s taken a bigger price jump are chicken wings.

“I never thought that breasts would cost less than chicken wings do,” he tells KDKA money editor Jon Delano.

But they do.

Turkas sells a 10-pound bag of chicken breasts for $19.99, while a 10-pound bag of wings sells for $27.99.

Why the high cost?

“As far as the chicken is concerned, it’s more or less supply and demand,” he says.

More demand, fewer wings — and that’s reflected at local restaurants and taverns.

“I’d say over the last couple of years, they’ve doubled in price,” notes John Hauck, owner of the Birmingham Bridge Tavern on the South Side.

Hauck whose tavern offers 15 different kinds of wings says he’s tried to keep the price from hitting a buck a wing.

“We’re coming up on that,” he said. “Let’s say we’re at 75, 80 cents apiece.”

But even though prices are rising, with so many types of wings and popularity growing, nobody expects the price of wings to come down anytime soon.

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