CINCINNATI —

Shopping for beef, pork or chicken? Be prepared to spend a little extra than you have in the past.

The prices of all three have gone up during the pandemic, particularly in the last few weeks.

"I haven't really paid that much attention to the meat prices, but if you do watch the news at all, you do know that there is a surge in the prices across the board for a lot of commodities," said 12-year Avril & Bleh customer Jim Whalen.

According to new consumer inflation data report from the Labor Department, beef prices alone jumped 12.2% over the last year. Pork prices jumped 9.8% in the last year, and chicken prices jumped 7.2%

"Actually the past two to three months have been awful," said Main Street Market owner Christina Busch.

Busch's family has been in the meat business for decades, and they say right now is the worst inflation they've seen with prices from suppliers steadily going up each week.

"Usually, you know, it'll fluctuate a few cents every week, whether it go up, whether it go down a few cents, but the past two to three months, it has done nothing but go up, and it hasn't been by sense, it's been by dollars," Busch said.

The Biden administration believes a handful of big meatpacking companies like Tyson Foods and JBS USA, which control most of the country's supply, are making the market less competitive.

In July, the president signed a new executive order to promote competition in the economy as a whole.

Market owners say they welcome any kind of help to keep them off the chopping block.

"I don't know how much longer we're going to be able to last if prices keep rising, because I know people aren't going to want to spend $25-plus on the steak — there's just there's no way," Busch said.

The administration is setting aside $500 million to help supply new meat processors to compete with the big four.

The justice department is also investigating alleged price-fixing in the chicken market.

CHICAGO, Ill. — COVID-19 rocked small businesses. Mom-and-pop contractors were hit especially hard. Now, an app is helping them connect with customers in a new way.

Working with his hands has been a welcome change for Steve Banyamin.

“Four years ago, I was working for a fortune 15 company doing B2B sales,” he said. “I just hustled. I’d be putting 55, 60 hours of work a week and it’s stressful.”

These days, he runs his own contracting business.

“You see me now, sweating, I’m swinging hammers, it’s dusty, but it’s a different type of mental stress. I’m much happier now,” said Banyamin.

Most of his work comes from word of mouth, but that can leave some holes in his schedule. When he doesn’t work, he doesn’t get paid.

“There was a gap in between where I was kind of like, 'Oh man, what am I going to do? I’ve got no job lined up and the bills aren’t going away,'” said Banyamin.

The pandemic exacerbated that uncertainty.

Unemployment in the construction industry spiked during the pandemic, from 5.5% in February 2020, to more than 16% by April. It continued to hover around 10% through the beginning of this year.

But now he has some help via a new app called ChoreRelief. It connects contractors with potential clients.

“So, you set up an account and as soon as an opportunity comes in and fits your criteria, your skillset, as well as the service area you would like to perform service at, we notify you immediately. All you have to do is open the app,” said Tarik Khribech, the founder of Chore Relief. “And then just send them what is a fair bid, and if they accept your offer, congratulations."

It’s just one of the companies Khribech has started since he emigrated to the US from Morocco.

“Growing up as a kid, I was always the hustler. If I have something and you like it, I’m happy to sell it for a profit,” said Khribech. “I buy something, I flip it, I sell it. You call me in the middle of the night. You see me walking down the middle of the street with the brand-new sneakers my brother just sent me from America and you give me a price for it, I’ll go home barefoot.”

Now, he wants to give a boost to contractors like Banyamin who are hustling to earn a living.

“A lot of the people don’t have the budget or the marketing experience, but you know what they all have in common? They have smartphones. So that’s when the idea came, let’s build an ecosystem that empowers these small mom and pop shops, small businesses,” said Khribech.

That ecosystem is helping Banyamin and other contractors like him to build and sustain their business.

“Because of ChoreRelief and some of the other apps that I use, business is plentiful. So, it’s never the case where I don’t know how I’m going to make that money. It’s more about, 'Oh man, I hope I have enough people to help,'” said Banyamin.