NORTHAMPTON — Brunch restaurant Jake’s in Northampton is scrambling for eggs.

The breakfast place cracks, whisks and cooks 3,000 eggs a week for their sweet and savory dishes — from pancakes to eggs Benedict and more — served at its downtown Northampton location. But recently, this cheap stable has become one of the restaurant’s more expensive ingredients. Over the last few weeks, Jake’s owner Chris Ware said the main ingredient in the restaurant’s dishes are now 300% more expensive than in the previous year.

“They more than double in price in a week,” Jake’s kitchen manager Irvin Velez said. “I was getting them at $3-something a dozen one week, the next week it was $8. It went from a $500 order to $1,400.”

Ware and Velez have, at least for now, been able to find eggs to serve hungry customers. Other restaurant owners, such as the Egg and I in South Hadley, arrived at their egg suppliers to discover empty pallets where cases of 15 dozen eggs would normally sit.

“I can’t be the ‘Egg and I’ without eggs,” owner David Simard said. “It’s not the first time bird flu has come around, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it where my suppliers don’t even have eggs in stock.”

Simard was referencing the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which in the last year has decimated bird populations across the county. That, in turn has driven up egg prices to record highs, with a nationwide average of $4.95 a dozen in January, up 15% from December, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Local farmers say they are doing everything they can to protect their flocks and hope costs will come back down soon; however, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that egg prices could continue to rise as much as 20% by the end of the year, causing challenges for restaurants and grocery stores.

“As soon as I can get eggs at a decent price, I buy as many as I can,” Miss Florence Diner owner Georgianna Brunton said. “I might order a larger amount in case they go down and another vendor can’t even get me eggs.”

At Jake’s in Northampton, Ware said the restaurant’s egg distributors are selling eggs only to existing customers and limiting the number of cases customers can purchase.

Bird flu outbreaks

Bird flu is the major cause of the egg shortage. In December, about 13.2 million birds died of the disease across the country, and there have been 30 more outbreaks reported in the first few weeks of 2025, according to a Feb. 14 USDA report.

While the illness has decimated flocks nationwide, cases of the avian flu in Massachusetts have been relatively contained. According to the state Department of Agricultural Resources’ bimonthly farm and market report, the bird flu has reached here, but has largely been contained to wild birds, particularly waterfowl. Since Jan. 1, there has been only one reported case of the bird flu in domestic flocks, impacting a flock of 30 birds in Plymouth County.

“We’re taking extra precautions,” said Kelly Kicza of Hillside Farms in Deerfield. “I’m glad all of our birds are healthy and we’re still able to provide eggs.”

In Wendell, Diemand Farm co-owner Tessa White-Diemand said the avian flu would have a devastating impact if it reached her flock. If just one bird was infected, the entire group would need to be killed, a terrifying thought in the wake of two cases of bird flu in wild geese having been confirmed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus, as well as reports of sick and dying geese in Turners Falls. They are taking precautions, including using disinfectants and closing the farm to visitors.

“It’s a pain to take on these extra precautions, but we need to protect our flock,” co-owner Anne Diemand Bucci said.

Kicza said they are also putting up extra barriers to keep wild birds away from their flock. So far they have been successful, but due to inflated costs of supplies and shipping, Hillside Farms has still had to raise egg prices. In December, the farm raised its egg prices by a dollar to $6 a dozen.

“It’s important to know costs are high for everyone. Grain, cartons, shipping — everything has gone up,” Kicza said “This isn’t just egg producers seeing a nationwide shortage and deciding to raise their prices and pocket more money.”

Diemand Bucci said the farm has been “slammed” with calls from those unable to find eggs from their regular vendors, and current customers seeking more than their usual amount.

“We have customers that used to want 60 dozen a week, and now they want 100,” Diemand Bucci said. “We don’t have enough eggs to take on any new customers.”

Bird flu outbreaks typically slow in warmer weather, Kicza said, so prices should hopefully drop this spring after more chickens are raised to replace the birds that were lost.

Others, however, expect egg prices and the supply to get worse before they get better.

Distributors juggle

Russell Sawyer, owner of wholesale food distributor All Star Dairy Foods in South Hadley, said he’s diversified his egg vendors to meet customer demand, but there are still weeks when his company hasn’t been able to keep all sizes of eggs in stock.

“I’ve been here 60 years as a family business and I compete with the big guys,” Sawyer said, referring to City Line and Restaurant Depot as some of his biggest competitors. “Right now some of the big guys can’t get eggs either. I’m holding my own right now, but it varies week to week, to tell your the truth.”

The cost of eggs has increased between 50 and 75 cents a dozen each week since the beginning of January, Sawyer said. Not only unshelled eggs, but even liquified eggs used for baking or hard-boiled eggs supplied to university kitchens have begun to jump in price.

“Jumbo eggs now are $8.95 a dozen and they (grocery stores) will mark it up another 20% when it gets to the customer,” Sawyer said. “If people want eggs badly enough, they will pay for it.”

The USDA weekly eggs market report found that egg prices are up 153% from this time last year. In some regions, such as western Massachusetts, prices are even higher. At the Big Y in Greenfield, eggs cost a minimum $7.49 a dozen, and at Stop & Shop a dozen goes for a minimum of $6.49.

The Big E in Easthampton offers one brand of eggs for under $4, but owner Judy LeBel said she wishes the grocery store had more low-cost egg options. Unlike Trader Joe’s in Hadley, where the egg section was nearly empty for a few weeks, the Big E manages to keep eggs in stock, but it’s been more difficult some weeks to find eggs to restock than others. As soon as Lebel noticed supply limits with eggs, the Big E added a two-carton limit per visit to maintain its supply.

“There was maybe one day in the last two months that we were really, really low on eggs, but usually we have a good selection,” LeBel said. “I instructed the dairy manager to order as many as we can with Easter being just a month and a half away.”

Restaurants weighprice increases

Meanwhile, local restaurants worry about making ends meet, especially during the slow winter season. Labor and utility costs are rising for restaurants, Simard said, and rent remains constant during the slow season.

“At the end of that, I’m not trying to walk away with a profit,” he said. “Let’s pay the bills and break even. But I can’t go negative, because they go right into the dirt and we’re all out of a job.”

Some establishments, like Jake’s, added a surcharge of 50 cents per egg to cover the increased cost, absorbing the expense of eggs on items including baked goods or sweet specials.

“The practical matter is we would lose an additional $4K a month if we didn’t increase the pricing,” Ware said.

But other establishments fear raising prices will scare off all-important regulars. Brunton and Simard said their core customer base are seniors on fixed incomes, and any hike in prices could mean they’ll stop showing up.

“My No. 1 client during the week is older folks who have more free time in the morning but they also have a fixed budget,” Brunton said. “If I raise an omelet based on this markup, I’d be doubling the pricing, so a $10 omelet is now $20.”

Right now, the Egg and I and Miss Florence Diner have not raised prices, but if the costs of eggs keeps increasing as they have, the market might force Simard and Brunton’s hand.

“People should not be surprised if there are businesses that are putting on a surcharge; it’s only because they’re trying to make ends meet,” Brunton said. “When restaurants do that, they’re only trying to keep themselves afloat.”

Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettenet.com. Madison Schofield can be reached at mschfield@recorder.com.