‘Eggflation’: Spiking cost of eggs forces business owners to raise prices

DALLAS, N.C. — If you’ve bought eggs recently, you likely had sticker shock.

A carton of eggs cost $1.92 in January 2022. Now, it costs about $5, and local business owners told Channel 9′s Hannah Goetz they’ve had to make changes.

Inflation, the worst bird flu outbreak in years, and a recent high demand for holiday baking have all combined to cause a major rise in egg prices.

It’s affecting people like Brittany Pressler, who owns the Cake Me Away bakery in Dallas.

“It has probably, almost, more than tripled,” Pressler told Goetz. “The price has gone up and with that, the products -- especially our cakes.”

The Gaston County bakery goes through about 600 eggs a week to make their desserts.

“I think the last time we got them, I think they were almost $24 for that case of eggs,” Pressler said. “It used to be close to maybe $8 or $9.”

They are spending close to $600 a month on eggs alone. Pressler said they’ve had to raise their prices on specialty cakes, which can be scary for a local shop to do.

“So it’s definitely harder when you know they are looking for that consistency not only in the product, but in the price,” she said.

Pressler said thankfully, customers have been understanding.

“They have been very kind because I think it is obvious to everyone that inflation is happening in every market there is right now,” she said.

They can’t cut back on eggs unless they change their recipes, and for a bakery like this, that just isn’t an option. So until prices go down, Pressler said they feel stuck.

“The cakes are important, but hopefully there will be some relief with some eggs,” she said.

Just down the road from Cake Me Away bakery, a family in Dallas is taking their own approach to rising egg prices.

10-year-old Rylen Robbins gave Goetz a tour Friday of a homemade chicken coop in his backyard. The family has eggs anytime they want, and Robbins even has his own little business: Rylen’s Eggs.

“Daddy posts on Facebook and people say that they want them,” Robbins said. “And we actually have a baker as a customer right now, which makes everybody mad because they have to wait for eggs because she is buying all of them.”

Farming eggs isn’t easy. Even Rylen has had to raise his prices because the price of feed has gone up. A dozen of Rylen’s eggs has jumped from $3 to $4.

“We used to do deals, but due to inflation costs and chicken feed going up in prices, we went up and don’t do deals no more,” Robbins said.

But Robbins said despite raising his prices, he is still seeing a demand.

″Are a lot more people wanting eggs from you now?” Goetz asked.

“A lot,” he said.

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