High egg prices impact businesses in Eastern Iowa

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Dawn Murray runs her small business, Out of the Blue Cheesecake Company, out of her home and in the process, she goes through a lot of eggs.

“I mean, depending on the week, it would be, I mean, definitely two to three dozen in a day,” Murray said.

Murray said she’s had difficulty finding eggs, and, lately, she’s taken to stocking up when she can. She’s also recently upped her prices from inflation in general. Egg prices specifically have had a big impact.

“I haven’t been able to get my eggs at Sam’s Club. But even when I was, like the 90-count box went from $11 a box to $33 a box,” Murray said. “Right now, the boxes that I’ve been getting have been from Walmart, because they have 60-count boxes. And those boxes went from approximately $6 a box to $26 a box. So it’s not even, you know, it’s 30 eggs less than what I was getting at Sam’s for just a couple dollars more.”

While experts say the avian flu is partially to blame, the disease hasn’t hit Etzel Sugar Grove Farm, a part of the Indian Creek Nature Center. However, inflation has. The farm is keeping the price of their organic eggs steady at $5 a dozen despite rising costs.

“Probably increasing prices in feed, chicken feed, would be it,” Sydney Foster, the farm’s manager, said. “We have seen, you know, ours increase at least a few dollars in the past year for sure.”

If close to 50 cents for a single egg is something you’re not willing to pay, is raising your own chickens a viable alternative?

“It depends,” Foster said. “The larger your flock, the more cost-effective it would be to keep your own chickens.”

As for Murray, she is still baking and hoping she can continue to operate.

“I’m not going to lie, the thought has crossed my mind, ‘Will I have to shut down and eventually just, you know, go back to working outside of the home?’” Murray said. She said it would be “fine,” and added, “not because I want that, but just because if that’s what has to happen, then that’s what has to happen.”

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