As egg prices soar, local restaurants and bakeries who regularly utilize eggs in their dishes are challenged to maintain prices. The rising prices are largely on account of the avian bird flu, which drastically lowers the nation-wide supply of eggs. For example, JD’s Chippery owner Amy Broad has implemented stricter financial planning to compensate.
“Eggs used to be about $25 a case for 15 dozen,” Broad said. “And now they are $120 a case for 15 dozen, so that is a sharp increase. But as a business owner, you have to do your math and your food costs.”
According to the U.S Bureau of Labor, egg prices have rose 159% in one year, significantly affecting restaurants that rely on bulk egg purchases. Furthermore, suppliers of bulk purchases are matching prices according to the market in order to stay afloat.
“Pasteurized eggs actually used to be less expensive from our supplier, and they raised the price to match the price of normal eggs because all of a sudden people started buying the cheaper, pasteurized eggs,” Broad said.
As egg prices rise, other key ingredients used by bakeries follow the trend too. After charting out their prices, JD’s Chippery has analyzed a mass rise in expenses which affects their sales of certain cookies.
“It’s not as simple as just eggs; the price of chocolate, which is another very expensive ingredient, has just gone up 40%,” Broad said. “[The price of] nuts has gone up. So any cookies that contain nuts, such as peanuts, walnuts, or macadamias in our store have all gone up in price.”
Because of the increasing costs, many restaurants are being forced to compensate by raising the prices of their dishes. Though the price increases are usually marginal, businesses are able to increase their total profit to match the egg price increases.
“It got to the point where I really had no choice then to increase the price of the egg items on the menu,” William Murphy, owner of Zest Cafe. “Not significantly, just by a dollar. But I just had to do it.”
Many restaurants hesitate to raise their prices, fearing the loss of loyal customers, however the situation has become unavoidable.
“I just really don’t want to do that because I don’t want our guests to come in and feel like they’re then getting taken down the river because we’ve had to all of a sudden raise our prices more than I already have,” Murphy said.
As grocery store prices rise, more customers are looking for alternate suppliers, increasing the profit of local farms.
“It’s been super beneficial for me because now I’m getting more customers my way because grocery stores are charging more for eggs,” the owner of JMZ Egg Farms Michael Jiminez said.
JMZ Farms is a dedicated local egg farm focused on ethical farming, sustainability, and transparency. Local egg farms like JMZ Farms prefer selling their eggs to individual consumers rather than businesses because of greater profit and their personal ideals.
“I found one store that didn’t mind paying the price but it just wasn’t worth it for me,” Jiminez said. “I make more whenever I sell directly to consumers.”
Through the dramatic inflation of eggs and collective unrest, the need for additional farmers has become increasingly evident. The crisis with the avian flu had highlighted the need for some surplus of farmers so that grocery industries can be supported even when an issue arises. Additionally, this has incited fears within farmers as they see how other issues could cause similar crashes in the individual agricultural economy, making prices only rise more.
“So the biggest thing right now is trying to get more farmers to start farming because we don’t have any more food now, as you can see, and this is just eggs,” Jiminez said. “Imagine all the other things that can happen.”
