Egg Shortage Leaves Local Bakeries Struggling

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - The country's egg shortage has left several industries struggling with higher costs.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates nearly 50 million birds have been wiped out because of bird flu. While that means shoppers at the grocery store will be shelling out a little extra for one carton of eggs, bakeries, which rely on thousands of eggs a week, are now scrambling to keep up.

Angel Food Bakery owner Cynthia Gerdes said her downtown Minneapolis shop has been open for three years.

"We are cracking thousands of eggs each week," Gerdes said.

Gerdes said dairy costs have been on the rise for year, but she's never had to raise prices in the bakery until the egg shortage happened.

"We had to sneak up our prices by a quarter," Gerdes said.

Gerdes said she has always paid more than average for organic eggs, but now she's paying 50 percent more for her weekly load.

A Baker's Wife Pastry Shop has been in business for 19 years in South Minneapolis.

Owner owner Gary Tolle said  his Iowa farm supplier wiped out an entire flock of birds because of the bird flu, and since then, he's had trouble getting any eggs.

Tolle said he has raised prices by 10 cents.

"It just covers what the eggs are costing us," Tolle said.

Tolle buys frozen liquid eggs from larger companies.

He says he used to pay $39 for 30 pounds, but in the past couple months, the price has been rising and now he says he pays $87 for the same amount.

Both business owners say they haven't had much push-back from customers.

"A lot of people understand the higher prices, and they go with it," Tolle said.

Tolle and Gerdes say the difficult part is not knowing what the future holds.

As scientists work to put a stop to bird flu, these bakers aren't banking on egg prices ever going back down.