Soaring Egg Prices Impact Local Restaurants
For Ellie Funk and Cheryl Olson, what better place to discuss egg prices than at Egg House Café in Crystal. The frequent customers have noticed the rising prices and diminishing supplies at their local grocery stores.
“I haven’t been able to find cartons of egg whites. I shop mostly at Cub and they have gone up in price if you can find them,” said Olson.
Funk also couldn’t find eggs during a pre-holiday stop at Costco.
“I would go to another grocery store and yes, pay a lot for eggs, but because it was for Christmas, I did it,” said Funk.
The rising cost of eggs is a problem local households just can’t seem to crack. According to Consumer Price Data released this week, egg prices are up 60 percent over last year.
Wilson Rivera, co-owner of Egg House Café, says restaurants are having difficulties finding eggs too.
“The company we try to get the eggs from, they were out of eggs,” said Rivera.
Egg House Café goes through 2,000 to 3,000 eggs a week.
Rivera says prices keep switching every week. Compared to last year, Rivera says the cost of eggs has more than tripled for his restaurant, from $20 a case to $65 a currently. He says his restaurant orders 15 to 20 cases of eggs a week.
Having endured a pandemic, Rivera’s restaurant is holding the line on prices for now.
“For the last three years, there’s only been one time, right after COVID, that we raised prices, which is one more dollar up,” he said.
So what’s behind the rise? The U.S. Department of Agriculture attributes it to the avian flu epidemic killing millions of chickens. The outbreak has become deadliest in U.S. history. More families turning to eggs as their main protein source is another factor.
Back at Egg House Café, Rivera says his customers helped him get through a pandemic, now they’re helping him get through this challenge.
“They are all neighbors, they are all very familiar faces. you see them almost every week. It feels good that they keep coming back.”
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