Egg prices make Illinois Valley restaurants, food pantries adapt

Every spring the Illinois Valley Food Pantry in La Salle sends families home with a carton of eggs and a coloring kit for children to dye them for Easter.

Not this year.

Food pantry executive director Mary Jo Credi said Friday she’s got four cartons of eggs left to give away – that’s it.

I would never, ever have thought eggs would be so expensive

—  Arnie Sanchez, owner, Jarrito's

Eggs are so costly and in such short supply that Easter food baskets might be egg-less. Regional food banks have given her “no assurance” the availability will be restored by the paschal moon.

“Our last shipment of eggs was during the holidays,” Credi said, “and that might be it for a while.

“There’s no way we can afford to give out eggs for people, and it’s a shame.”

Food pantries aren’t the only ones buckling under the yoke of market forces that have been near $5 per dozen at most grocery stores. Utica firefighters hold an annual Easter egg hunt and Chief Ben Brown means to hold it this year, too – even though he’ll have to dip deeper into the till to pay for eggs.

“It’s going to be pricy, I am sure,” Brown said.

Indeed, avian flu has set off a supply and demand issue that has bedeviled not only retail consumers, but also business owners who otherwise could bank on discounted bulk rates to save money. Egg prices rose 14% from November to December, according to figures from the Department of Agriculture.

Arnie Sanchez owns Los Jarritos in La Salle and he said he’s had to make menu adjustments because of the egg shortage and resulting surge in supplies.

“I would never, ever have thought eggs would be so expensive,” Sanchez said. “It’s kind of like toilet paper back in 2019 or so.”

At More in Ottawa and Streator, owner Jen McMullen said the shortage has forced her to tweak the menu and yank Keto eggs and gravy, a dish that contains four eggs, as well as deviled eggs. She’s also had to raise prices on breakfast sandwiches, breakfast burritos and her sweet potato breakfast bowl.

“Customers have been very understanding,” McMullen said gratefully. But the end is not yet in sight.

“We haven’t experienced an increase this dramatic before. Egg prices from our suppliers went down a little this week so we are hopeful that prices will trend downward.”

Enrique Delgado, owner of Jalapeno’s in Peru, said he hasn’t had to alter his menu or prices – at least not yet. When asked if he foresaw a price decline, Delgado didn’t sound hopeful.

“The prices will be going up for the distributors and it’ll be more expensive yet,” Delgado said.

Long-term, he’s worried egg prices will boost home food costs, cut into disposable incomes and lead to fewer people dining out.

Anne Loveland owns the Fourth Street Bakery in Peru. She adjusts her prices annually and according to the rate of inflation and has so far resisted making quick-hook adjustments based on egg prices. Instead, she’s reached out to vendors to seek out more favorable prices.

“But there’s no pretending the egg prices aren’t crazy,” Loveland said. “I just bought some for home at $7 per dozen.

“The whole world is impacted.”

One might suppose farmers are immune from the egg shock but that’s not the case at Essl Farms in Tonica. Cassie Essl said they stopped selling eggs a few months back when they sold their chickens and ducks. Even when the now-gone flock was producing, they could only bank on two or three eggs a day.

“Fortunately, it hasn’t affected us much as a majority of our items we sell do not require eggs,” Essl said.