Since 2024, when cases of bird flu were on the rise in Ohio, local businesses, including bakeries have made changes to adjust to supply issues and rising egg prices.
La Chatelaine and Resch鈥檚 Bakery are two locally-owned bakeries in Columbus which have worked to not let the outbreak slow down their business.
Aaron Harden, the head of the production kitchen at La Chatelaine, said instead of raising prices, the bakery has been able to source eggs from local producers, Merry Milk Maid and Happy Chicken Farms, to save money.
鈥淎lthough we're spending more money than we were normally used to, that being around $20 [more] for that box of eggs, it definitely was better than $120, which a lot of places, like a lot of franchises will ...,鈥� Harden said. "So that's what they were spending. That's why they had a surcharge. The reason why we didn't is because we were using a fresher local product.鈥�
Even though the price of eggs locally is normally more expensive than buying from a producer like Cisco or Gordon Food Services, it is now the cheaper option, Harden said. Prices for 15-dozen eggs have risen from $35 to between $90-$120 at producers like GFS, Harden said, compared with local producers, which are around $55 for the same number of eggs.
鈥淭his cage free, 15-dozen large, brown, loose eggs is $60, which is typically...very expensive,鈥� Harden said. 鈥淏ut for now you're not going to find a better price than that or a better product.鈥�
At Resch鈥檚 Bakery, prices have been increased slightly to compensate for rising egg prices, according to David Resch, manager at Resch鈥檚 Bakery.
鈥淚 would say all of our egg products and stuff we've upped it 10 cents to 25 cents and stuff for egg products and we're just selling less of it due to the cost,鈥� Resch said.
Resch said the best strategy they鈥檝e used to fight high prices is to push certain products that contain less eggs.
鈥淵eah, that would be our donuts, our cookies require eggs, some of our cakes require eggs and stuff, so we're pushing more of the other cakes instead of that, you know, like certain flavors,鈥� Resch said.
Harden agreed and said La Chatelaine has pushed out products such as meringues, due to what he calls a low food cost or the amount of money it costs to bake certain items.
鈥淎 meringue is made with egg white and sugar, and that's almost as simple as whipped cream, and it has a very low food cost,鈥� Harden said. 鈥淎nd then you'll have something else, like our chocolate mousse, that's made with almond paste that has butter and egg in it. It's made with butter cream and that has butter and egg in it. Something like that will have a very high food cost.鈥�
Resch and Harden believe that hopefully, the bird flu outbreak will pass.
鈥淚 don't see it being a long-term issue,鈥� Resch said. 鈥淚f it is, then I'm worried for it, but I believe it'll be bounced back. I've always seen prices go up and down. But you know eventually it'll even out.鈥�
