If you own a bakery or diner, chances are you buy a lot of eggs.
With the avian flu hitting close to home earlier this week, people in the business of feeding hungry patrons are feeling the pinch of rising egg prices.
“You can only absorb so much and then you have to pass that on,” said David Burkholder, co-owner of Achenbach’s Bakery in Leola, Pennsylvania. “It’s hard because if we make too many increases we upset our wholesalers.”
Burkholder, who has been with Achenbach’s for more than 40 years, said he buys his eggs by the pound from Martin’s Quality Eggs in Ephrata.
An exterior view of Achenbach's Bakery in Leola, Pa.
The bakery averages 420 pounds of liquid whole eggs per week and 150 pounds of egg whites.
Earlier this month, whole eggs from Martin’s were $2.70 a pound and are now $2.85 a pound. Egg whites saw a more significant increase, jumping from $1.52 a pound at the beginning of January to $2 a pound.
Burkholder also said the price of whole eggs in October was only $1.50 a pound, although going back to August they were up to $2.31 a pound.
“They fluctuate back and forth,” he said. “(Right now) they are expensive.”
Kevin Martin, a third-generation owner of Martin’s Quality Eggs in Ephrata, said although the Pennsylvania avian flu outbreak has affected his business, the problem is much larger than it appears.
“It is a national egg shortage, and the birds that went down in California and Ohio, someone is paying a lot of money and those costs will make their way to the shortest spots,” said Martin, noting Martin’s is a much smaller operation compared to other egg suppliers. “When one barn goes down people try and help fill in and that’s what’s causing disruption in the market.”
A display case filled with baked goods at Achenbach's Bakery in Leola, Pa.
In eastern Lancaster County, Alice’s Diner has been serving up eggs to hungry customers for 25 years.
“Eggs are our bread and butter,” said Angela Skiadas, owner of Alice’s Diner.
Skiadas said Alice’s goes through about 15 cases of eggs each week. Each case contains 30 dozen eggs.
That’s 5,400 eggs.
Although egg prices are rising, and as of last week were up more than $100 a case, Skiadas has not raised her prices.
“It effects our bottom line, obviously, but we do not want to put that on our patrons,” she said.
Skiadas sources her eggs from both Sysco and Kreider Farms in Manheim. She said up until recently, Kreider’s resisted the urge to raise prices but eventually cracked.
An exterior view of Alice's Diner in Lancaster, Pa.
“They were holding strong and being the best in the area, but they just raised their prices this week,” Skiadas said. “They were doing us a favor and holding the prices steady for a while.”
Back at the bakery, Burkholder said he has noticed the cost of eggs rising everywhere.
“I buy my eggs at a farm stand and they are now $5 a dozen, which is still cheaper than grocery stores,” he said.
Burkholder recalls past cases of avian flu in Lancaster County, including the one in 1984 that impacted nearly every egg supplier.
“When it went though, Kreider’s was the only one that wasn’t touched,” he said. “They made a killing.”
Unlike the diners, Burkholder admits the bakery business can be cyclical.
“One of the former owners told me once, ‘If you can make it through January you can make it through the rest of the year,’” he said. “People are tired of sweets and indulging. But then we have Fasnacht Day and Valentine’s Day and we bounce back.”
Bakeries also feel the impact when there is drought and other weather events that impact the farming community.
“When there is a flour shortage in the Midwest, we feel it,” he said. “But we bounce back, it just makes it tough.”
Martin echoed Burkholder’s sentiments, saying egg production in general has been on a decline.
“Consumption needs to drop because there are not enough eggs,” said Martin. “It’s not a good thing because the industry has worked very hard to get egg consumption to where it is.”
