Rising Egg Prices Impacting Local Bakeries

CHARLOTTE, N.C —  Burney’s Sweets and More is home of the glazed croissants  along with several other sweet treats. 

  Kimberly Johnson has been running the bakery for four years, but the recent spike in egg prices has made keeping the business open a challenge – especially when eggs are a key ingredient in many of the desserts. 

” Inflation itself is really hard on small businesses right now,” Johnson said. 

Johnson said  she’s now spending more than double what she used to on eggs. 

” We’re spending between 70 to 80 plus,” Johnson said. 

 The USDA  said  a record outbreak in Avian flu is the reason for the soaring prices. 

 For Johnson, it means customers could see higher prices. 

” We’re trying to avoid passing that cost onto customers as much as we can, but its causing us to increase our prices,” Johnson said. 

In an effort to keep her costs down, Johnson is now turning to other options for her eggs. 

” We try to go out to local farms to help out with eggs, but if we’re here in Charlotte we can go to the Chef’s Store or Restaurant Depot just to help out with that cost.” 

 Local farmers said  they’re seeing an increased demand for their eggs as egg prices continue to rise. 

” We did a push for eggs at our market last Saturday and we had a wrap-around line waiting for our eggs,” Owner of Deep Roots CPS Farm Cheri Jzar said. ” People are turning to pasture raised and local eggs because they can get better egg quality from us almost at the same  price that they’re getting at the grocery store.”

 The USDA said we are dealing with one of the worst Avian flu outbreaks in US history. 

 The last significant outbreak was in 2015.