As LA restaurants reel from egg prices, a cafe owner wants the government to step in

Egg prices continue to soar due to the bird flu outbreak, leading to drastic measures, such as restaurants adding a 50-cent surcharge per egg and grocery stores imposing rationing to offset shortages.

When the FDA announced a $1 billion plan earlier this week to tackle the crisis, including boosting egg imports and vaccinating chickens, it was seen by many as a crucial move.

But Richard Williams, co-owner of the Village Bakery and Cafe in Atwater Village, says it won’t be enough to help businesses like his, which rely heavily on eggs.

“ We just can't sustain it much longer. It is getting incredibly difficult,” Williams said.

Running at a loss

The eatery uses a lot of eggs in its baked goods and affordable breakfast and lunch items, such as brioche breakfast sandwich and breakfast burritos.

When I interviewed him back in January as egg prices began surging, he told me that it was already eating into profits — when a customer ordered an egg dish, the business didn't make any money at all.

Now, just a few months later, he says it’s cutting even deeper. “We are running at a loss because everything we make has eggs," he said. “It’s a gigantic issue for us."

He said they’ve gone to great lengths to limit the bakery’s egg use, including removing certain items from the menu and asking employees not to eat them.

But prices continue to rise. He used the example of a recent egg order he placed for the bakery. The cost of four cases of eggs was $700, or roughly $1 per egg. Williams said that last year, the cost per egg was around 20 cents.

What would help?

As for the plan announced by the FDA, Williams doesn’t feel the situation will improve quickly enough.

He says the only real solution is for the government to provide emergency cash relief to help restaurants stay in business, similar to what was done during the pandemic.

“ That's the only solution because our costs are through the roof,” Willams said.

But he has “zero faith” that anything can be done.

“ At this point, I can't imagine any change in the situation; I can only see it worsening,” he said. “ There is no infrastructure and nothing to counter this. So it's only going to get much worse.”

He said wryly: "If you know anyone who wants to buy a bakery, let me know. I'm dead serious."