Skyrocketing

'It's f—king killing me': Skyrocketing egg prices devastate California restaurants

By Madeline Wells, Jessica Yadegaran

Amid California’s bird flu outbreak, egg prices have risen to nearly $9 per dozen, according to USDA data. Consumers are certainly feeling the effects, from the 70% price hike to Bay Area grocery stores imposing purchase limits on eggs. But restaurants across the state that rely on eggs to make their signature dishes may be hurting the most. 

Cara Haltiwanger had the unfortunate timing of opening her new Los Angeles breakfast sandwich restaurant, Calabama, in November. Bird flu outbreaks had “caused the deaths of more than 1.7 million birds in Merced County” as of Dec. 5 and 1.1 million in Stanislaus County as of Dec. 24, reported the San Francisco Chronicle (the Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms). Soon after, egg prices began to skyrocket.

“It’s f—king killing me,” Haltiwanger told SFGATE. “I’m an egg restaurant, I have to buy eggs no matter what, you know?”

She first started Calabama as a pandemic pop-up in 2020, earning a cultlike following for delivering Southern-style breakfast sandwiches via bucket drops. Now that she’s finally opened her brick-and-mortar, she’s spending her time dashing between Restaurant Depot, Smart & Final and Costco in search of eggs, where a case (180 eggs) is currently ranging between $100 and $150 — nearly $1 per egg. 

“It feels scary,” Haltiwanger said. “I’ve only been open since November 15, so this has been the majority of the case since I’ve been open. I’m having to cut staff early, and we’ve had to be really careful with pours and spills. I’m not changing the amount of egg that we serve, or prices, I’m just taking it on the chin. I don’t know what else to do — I just opened.”

The spike in egg prices is also sending Gemma Ballesteros’ dream bakery into a tailspin. In 2020, she finally opened her downtown Hayward bakery after a decade of baking for friends and family. Marley’s Treats is known for cupcakes and creative combinations, like a mini ube cheesecake topped with flan. Eggs are a “huge part” of her production, she said.

“It’s so bad right now,” Ballesteros told SFGATE. “When we first opened the bakery, a case was roughly $28 to $32, and in recent weeks I’ve seen them go for as much as $125 a case. It comes to a point where I can’t just raise the pricing. It’s dessert. It’s more of a luxury than a need.”

But the business is her necessity. To offset costs, Ballesteros has started scaling back production by making only what has been preordered. She’s also considering another dire option: closing the brick-and-mortar altogether and focusing on her food truck and events, like Outside Lands.

The dramatic rise in egg prices comes on the heels of a slow pandemic recovery for the bakery, which saw a decrease in corporate catering in 2024, Ballesteros said, and a steady rise in the cost of everything, from minimum wage and rent to utilities and even butter. 

“All the factors of operating a brick-and-mortar, it’s just not making sense,” she said. “It’s hard to fight back when all of this just keeps increasing. It’s been a fight for survival, and the eggs are making it so much worse. I can’t change the recipes to have no eggs.”

Hoyul Steven Choi, who owns 20 California restaurants, including Bay Area brunch favorites Sweet Maple and Kitchen Story, buys more eggs than anything else. He said he has never seen anything like this in his 22 years in the business.

“Egg prices have always fluctuated, but this is crazy,” he told SFGATE. “We are in a position to negotiate because of our volume, but this week, right now, it’s $139 a case. A few years ago it was $20 to $40.”

For smaller, independent restaurants that lack bargaining power, this is a very difficult time, Choi said. “There’s nothing they can do. You used to be able to go to a wholesale warehouse instead of doing delivery and save maybe $10 a case, but my understanding is that’s not the case anymore,” he said. “This wipes out profit if there was any.”

Like other restaurateurs interviewed for this story, Choi said the spike in egg prices is the pinnacle of the financial hardships they have faced over the past few years. 

“Each year it gets worse,” he said. “All you can do is reduce service and raise prices, but there is no room to raise anymore. If we raise them, people won’t be able to afford it.” 

Restaurants will need to figure out how to adapt to the rising egg prices, or crack under the pressure — the shortage probably won’t end anytime soon. National egg production is unlikely to stabilize before mid-2025, reported the San Francisco Chronicle, “with the U.S. egg-laying flock expected to dip below 300 million hens — its lowest point since the 2022 bird flu crisis.”