RICHMOND, Va. — Moore Street Café in Scott’s Addition runs on eggs, according to owner Charlie Hughes.
“We probably crack 4,000 eggs a week, so when they double and then triple, it is a pretty big, big impact on the business,” Hughes explained.
About 95 percent of his menu includes eggs, and that’s an issue as prices continue to rise.
“When they double and then triple, it is a pretty big, big impact on the business,” Hughes said.
Hughes showed CBS 6 wholesale prices from October when he first noticed the cost increase.
He paid $2.50 for a dozen eggs in the fall. That number doubled in December and now has risen to $7.50 for a dozen eggs.
“Absolutely, it's scary, but I don't know what to do about it because we have to have them,” Hughes said.
CBS News reports that egg restrictions, shortages, and record-high prices are ruffling feathers at supermarkets across the U.S. as a deadly strain of avian flu continues to decimate the country's poultry flocks. To the dismay of consumers still struggling to digest soaring food costs, that likely means even higher egg prices in 2025.
Hobey Bauhan serves as president of the Virginia Poultry Federation, a nonprofit statewide association that represents the poultry industry from farmers to processors and businesses that provide goods and services.
“We're coming off of this holiday season where there's extra demand because of the baking that takes place. You have a perfect storm in terms of really high demand and then disruption to some of the supply because of avian influenza,” Bauhan said. “The supply and demand sets the wholesale prices.”
Bauhan said Virginia’s poultry flocks and farms have largely avoided the deadly strain of avian flu, except for a positive flock discovered on the Eastern Shore and two commercial turkey flocks impacted in the Shenandoah Valley in January 2023.
He credited the Virginia Poultry Disease Task Force, which was formed in collaboration with veterinarians, the Virginia Department of Agriculture, USDA, and other interested industry agencies. The task force was formed in 2002 after influenza infected 4.7 million turkeys and chickens in the Commonwealth.
“We developed Prevention and Rapid Response Plans. We've met quarterly every year since then. We’ve done tabletop exercises,” Hughes explained. “We've developed standards for biosecurity, where we audit our operations. We have developed surveillance programs where no poultry flock leaves the farm without being tested for avian influenza. I think we've been pretty successful over the years, and it shows our attention to this in Virginia.”
Hughes has only made minor price adjustments to his menu in December, but he said he can’t keep up with the constantly changing prices.
“This has happened so quickly that I can't keep up with how quickly they're going up. I can't adjust my menu biweekly,” he explained.
He hoped egg prices might start to go down by the spring. However, the USDA said the combination of bird flu and inflation might drive up egg prices even more this year.
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