What does the steep price of eggs mean for your favorite bakery?

If you tried purchasing eggs recently, you might have noticed a few things. There were no eggs to be found (this happened to me at my local Target), or if you did find them, their cost has skyrocketed.

It's affecting everyone — but in particular, businesses like local bakeries are being hit the hardest.

Richard Williams is the co-owner of The Village Bakery and Cafe in Atwater Village with his wife, Barbara. The bakery, which makes its baked goods from scratch, uses eggs as a core ingredient, including in its iconic sugar cookies and popular breakfast items. The egg price increase comes as the bakery is already fighting to survive and keep prices low.

Late October

Williams noticed that the price of eggs started to rise in late October last year. Before that, the average cost of eggs for the bakery was around $4 to $5 per dozen. Since then, the price has doubled, hovering around $8 to $9.

He said eggs are often in high demand during the holidays, which causes the price to rise. But prices have stayed high even into the new year.

It’s costing Williams an extra $6,000 per month.

“ It eats tremendously into our profits,”  Williams said.  ”At this point, if you're ordering an egg dish, in the long run, we're not going to be making money on it.”

It’s partly to do with the high prices being charged by his egg distributor. “ I can buy them in the supermarket cheaper, and I don't know why that is,” Williams said.

When he raised the issue with the distributor, they told him prices were staying high due to the large number of poultry being slaughtered because of the bird flu epidemic. (California lost between 17 million and 20 million birds in the last few months due to the outbreak, according to the California Poultry Federation.)

Coping strategies

Raising prices isn’t really an option for the eatery; the prices of their most popular items, such as the brioche breakfast sandwich ($12) and breakfast burritos ($14), are already being undercut by larger competitors.

“We're up against major chains. Someone says, ‘I can get a sandwich at Starbucks for cheaper than I can buy it from you,’” Williams said.

For Williams, the solution, for now, is to make small changes in the menu, like reducing the number of daily specials that contain eggs.

He worries that there's no sign that the bird flu outbreak will end any time soon.

“ It's one thing to suck it up for a few weeks or one month, but this is three, going on four months now. And with no sign of it abating...it’s not good.”

Ultimately, if the high cost of eggs continues, Williams sees no other choice but to raise his prices and hope for the best.