CHANDLER, Texas (KETK) — Honeycomb Bakery and Coffee in Chandler is just one of the many East Texas businesses being impacted by the surge in egg prices.

Owner Tonya Kauffman shared that she has been experiencing inflation since she has been open. Her business opened in Sep. 2022, “There’s been about a 40% cost increase in our core ingredients like eggs, like butter, sugar, all of those and the availability has been pretty difficult as well,” said Kauffman.

The increase in egg prices has to do with bird flu, according to The U.S. Department of Agriculture, it reported nearly 58 million birds have been affected by it.

“Having to buy far in advance to make sure that you have those ingredients in stock, especially for a bakery like ours where we make everything from scratch,” said Kauffman. The increase in egg prices hit small businesses hard. Honeycomb Bakery and Coffee typically buys about 30 dozen eggs each week.

“We are reliant on those core ingredients and every fluctuation in the pricing has a huge impact on us,” said Kauffman. She said she is thankful for the customer support and their understanding of price increases in her shop.

The recent USDA shares this statistic, “According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, in December, the Consumer Price Index for eggs rose 11.1%, 160% over the level of December 2021, to an average price of $4.25 per dozen, 238% higher than the $1.79 price set in December 2021.”

“Of course, across all aspects of consumer goods, we are seeing sufficient increases in production cost such as the labor cost, feed, supplies, and then the distribution cost that gets going to getting the eggs to the ultimate consumer,” said Kerri Camp, UT Tyler Professor of Marketing.