Scrambled Supply, Sunny-Side Up Prices: Egg Shortage Drives NYers to Extreme Measures

By: Benyamin Davidsons

All across the country, the spread of bird flu has sent egg prices soaring. New Yorkers, used to getting everything they want, are not backing down despite the unreliable supply and widely varying prices. Over the past year, egg prices have more than doubled, but sometimes you can’t even find it at that. Last year, a dozen eggs were $3.27, now we are lucky to find them at $8.47, up a whopping 159 percent, as per ABC News.

The problem stems from the lack of supply. Millions of hens have died or been put down because of the bird flu, and so naturally there are fewer hens producing eggs. In the last 30 days alone, over 18.9 million birds have been culled, per the US Department of Agriculture. “In Williamsburg, I’ve been spending $11 to $13 a dozen,” one shopper said.

As reported by the NY Times, nearly every grocery store now has a note in the egg section explaining the limitation in purchasing eggs in quantity. Many times, the aisles don’t actually carry any eggs at the given time— its just a reminder of where the cartons ought to be. Even Trader Joe’s and Costco stores, where cartons are stocked early morning, are all out of eggs many afternoons.

Some delis are starting to sell raw eggs loose—3 in a baggie. An actual carton of eggs can be too hard to come by. Even if you find it, the question remains, at what price. In Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, a carton of eggs was going for $18.99 late last week, said Sanora Thompson, a disappointed customer. “Price-gouging,” she called it.

Consumers are even getting creative and finding local chicken coops. Per the Times, at Tranquility Farm, a community garden in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant, the waiting list for eggs is now so long that they aren’t taking any more names. Farm to People, an online farmers market grocery-delivery service, serves customers in NYC and NJ. It offers local, pasture-raised eggs for $7.49 a dozen. Michael Ray Robinov, the chief executive, said he had to limit customers to four dozen apiece, after people began ordering 12 or even 15 dozen eggs. “New customers are coming in, and they are like panic-buying,” Robinov said.

Prices have been off the charts, where you can find eggs. Compare Foods, on Boston Road near 166th Street in the Bronx, had many varieties in stock last week. The most expensive kinds were selling for up to $15.99 a dozen. One brand of white eggs priced at $7.95 was marked “limit one per family.” The stores say they don’t necessarily like the increased prices either. “I do the best I can,” said Luis Hernandez, the store’s general manager. “I want to make money, but if people stop buying eggs it hurts my business.”

In response to the higher prices, some NYC food trucks and bodegas are starting to charge an extra dollar for the NY classic —the egg sandwich. Even some well-known restaurant chains, including Denny’s, are raising their prices for egg-based meals. “Our pricing decisions are being made market-by-market, and restaurant-by-restaurant due to the regional impacts of the egg shortage,” Denny’s said in a statement..