Inside Meemo’s Bakery and Cafe in San Antonio, they crack a lot of eggs. Problem is, the price of eggs is cracking the budget.
“We use anywhere from 10 to 15 cases of eggs a week,” said owner Amber Gonzalez. “That’s a lot.”
That’s 2,700 eggs a week, give or take, that are scrambled, poached, fried or whipped into cookies, cakes, waffles and breads.
“We don’t have a choice,” Gonzalez said. “I mean, everything we do is from scratch with fresh ingredients.”
A case of extra large eggs that used to cost her about $22 is now a whopping $98, she said.
Home cooks are paying sky-high prices, too. A price check Tuesday found one dozen large, grade A eggs are selling for $4.48 at a North Side H-E-B. Walmart’s Great Value brand was $5.28, and Target’s Good and Gather eggs were $5.29.
Egg prices have doubled in recent months. A big reason is bird flu, which has eliminated nearly 60 million chickens.
“We keep having more outbreaks. We’re losing birds, and that’s cutting production dramatically,” said Dr. David Anderson, an agriculture economist at Texas A&M University.
Costs of feed, fuel and labor are other factors pushing on prices.
Consumers can expect to see egg prices continue to rise this spring with Easter demand and then drop later in the year, economists said.
As for Gonzalez, she’s been eating the higher costs, but can’t for much longer.
“We’ve been trying to put it off, raising prices because, I mean, who wants to pay $20 for an omelet?” she said. “It just seems ridiculous.”