Paczki fly off shelves on Fat Tuesday, but egg prices are concern for bakeries making them
People were rushing to pick up paczki this Fat Tuesday, and bakers have had to adapt this year due to rising egg prices.
At Creative Cakes Bakery, at 16649 Oak Park Ave. in Tinley Park, Illinois, paczkis were flying off the shelves — cherry, strawberry, Dutch apple, whatever the filling, customers were all over it. Owner Becky Palermo has been in business for 35 years, and started selling paczki 22 years ago.
"We kind of put a spin on it and did extreme, but then they've got a lot of like custardy ingredients, and things that just make them more interesting," said Palermo.
The bakery is known for its custom cakes, but was set to sell up to 3,500 paczki on Tuesday alone. But there is a problem — the rising cost of eggs made production more expensive.
Each batch of paczki requires 32 egg yolks and 16 egg whites.
"Every week it goes up and up, so the margins are getting smaller and smaller and smaller," said Palermo. "To couple that with labor and everything else, there's no room for this egg increase."
The 2025 food price outlook from the U.S. Department of Agriculture said egg prices will "continue to experience" month-to-month fluctuations due to the bird flu.
The USDA said retail egg prices increased by nearly 14% in January.
"Honestly with eggs, we're paying more because we buy in bulk than the customers in store that are limited to two dozen per customer," Palermo said, "but because we have to buy more, we're getting charged more."
Palermo said she raised paczki prices last year to adjust to higher costs, and she hasn't made any changes yet this year. But if egg prices don't drop, cakes could cost her customers more.
"We don't want to discontinue, so we're just going to have to raise the price if somebody wants it," said Palermo, "and we hope that our customers understand."
The USDA said egg prices are predicted to increase 41% this year.
