Local bakers grapple with rising egg prices, manage price hike with creative solutions

MARYLAND – “I say about 70% of our menu is dependent on eggs,” The Ugly Pie Co-Owner Heather Hall said.

Eggs are at the heart of everything The Ugly Pie in Salisbury does, going through around 50 dozen of them per week.

With the national average price of a dozen large eggs now at $4.25, Co-Owner Heather Hall tells us they now have to make every crack count. “I think the highest we’ve paid is probably $22 dollars for 5 dozen,” Hall said.

“Unfortunately, with eggs there’s not a whole lot of substitution. There’s nothing that really acts like an egg.”

Mandala Pies in Berlin (also Vienna) is facing the same challenges.

Yet, Co-Owner Mikey Lacomb says that they have a secret ingredient providing them some relief. “We purchase from a local farm, so the eggs prices haven’t fluctuated that much as of yet. They are continuing to slowly creep up though,” LaComb said.

The average quiche recipe at Mandala Pies calls for a minimum of 5 eggs.

With egg prices still on the rise, they’re having to make difficult decisions like raising the price of some menu items. “It’s not something we want to do, but we have to in order to maintain.”

Now walking on eggs shells, both shops tell 47ABC they’re getting creative to keep things sunny side up. “Our fruit pies don’t have eggs in them so we’re trying to make more of those,” LaComb said. “We haven’t had to raise prices on those.”

“We don’t want to make too much and then it goes to waste. We just have to be a little more careful about what we’re providing,” Hall said.

The Ugly Pie tells us on top of the price increase that getting their hands on eggs in general is another challenge.

Both shops tell us that prices for ingredients like butter, sugar, and flour are rising as well.