Egg prices affecting local businesses

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Egg prices aren’t just affecting your wallet at the store, many local eateries are also dealing with higher costs.

Great Harvest Bread Co. owner Abbey Despain said when they buy a five gallon bucket of eggs, they are seeing a 60 to 70 percent increase in cost. That means she’s paying about 50 cents per egg these days, when she used to pay 20 cents or less. And for a business like hers, that higher cost can quickly add up.

“Our cookies, our tea cakes, any sort of muffins, scones, all of those have eggs in them,” Despain said.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average price of a dozen large, Grade A Eggs came to $4.15 in December, up from $3.65 in November. The higher prices are because of the bird flu, which has killed millions of egg-laying hens across the country.

Despite egg prices rising, Despain does not plan to use any substitutes in her bakery.

“You can swap out flaxseed or apple sauce or things like that. But that will affect the quality of the baked good and it’s more important to me that I give the best quality possible,” Despain said.

But that does mean customers may see price increases.

“We’ve had talks with other bakery owners and kind of seeing what other businesses are doing,” Despain said.

Despain said she hasn’t raised prices yet, but if she has to, some items might see a ten to 20 cent increase per baked good. Thankfully, there hasn’t been much of a cost increase with other ingredients.

Everything else has stayed fairly stable, to what we’ve seen it at in the last 12 to 18 months, so that’s good.

According to a forecast by the US Department of Agriculture, the price of eggs could rise 20 percent this year.

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