As egg prices soar, local restaurants like La Bou Bakery & Cafe, Coko Cake & Bakery and Jing Jing Chinese Cuisine face pressure to keep up with rising costs and high demand for eggs.

In January 2025, the price of a dozen Grade A eggs in the U.S. reached an average of $4.95, marking a 15% increase from December 2024, according to Federal Reserve data. Since the start of 2024, egg prices have surged by 65% overall.

Rocklin La Bou franchise owner Quang Tran experienced a marginal decline in profits due to skyrocketing egg prices.

“We can’t raise prices to match the market,” Tran said. “If we increase them too much, customers won’t come. Even though egg prices have doubled, we’ve only raised our prices by about a nickel—about 1% or 2% for customers.”

According to USDA predictions, egg prices are expected to rise by approximately 41.1% in 2025, with fluctuations between 15% and 74.9%. This increase is due to a combination of factors, including the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which has wiped out millions of egg-laying hens, as well as rising feed and transportation costs.

“I believe this is short-term,” Tran said. “The poultry industry and the Agriculture Department are working together to find a solution.”

Nationally, businesses, especially bakeries and restaurants, have been hit particularly hard by the price hikes, with some pressured to adjust their menus or find substitutes. Despite the increased costs, Jing Jing Chinese Cuisine and Coko Cake & Bakery have not raised prices, used egg substitutes or reduced portion sizes, prioritizing quality in times of financial strain.

La Bou Bakery & Cafe and Jing Jing Chinese Cuisine purchase eggs in bulk from suppliers like Costco and Sam’s Club, which offer the lowest prices for large quantities. Costco sells 5 dozen eggs for about $20, while other supermarkets in California are nearly $9 a dozen. 

Ellen Ma from Jing Jing Chinese Cuisine remarked that adding more menu items with varied prices could help offset rising costs, but it would also require additional ingredient purchases. Either way, financial losses will still be a factor.

“If we increase prices, we also have to consider how surrounding businesses will react,” Ma said. “If our prices are too high, we risk losing customers to competitors.”

For Coko Cake & Bakery, which recently opened, the impact has been even more pronounced.

“When we first did the numbers for the business, eggs were cheap,” Jorge Gonzalez, owner of Coko Cake & Bakery, said. “Now they’re more than twice the price, and sometimes they’re hard to find. We need eggs for the majority of our items, so it’s been a real challenge.”

Unlike Jing Jing Chinese Cuisine and La Bou, who have been relying on Costco, Coko Cake & Bakery purchases eggs from wholesalers that sell to restaurants for better availability, but the costs have more than doubled. The restaurant occasionally faces shortages. To secure an adequate supply, they spend extra time and effort searching for alternative sources.

“ We opened less than three months ago, so it will not be fair to our customers to charge new prices,” Gonzalez said.