HONOLULU (KHON2) — The ongoing egg shortage and rising prices caused by the avian flu have some businesses scrambling.
Big Island Grill, a local, family-owned restaurant in Kailua Kona, has been dealing with the fallout.
“We used to do breakfast, lunch and dinner, but now only serving breakfast and lunch. And so eggs, it’s basically half of our menu,” Big Island Grill co-owner Jennifer Torcato said. “We were seeing prices double, some places tripled in pricing.”
They had to do something.
“So we just implemented a surcharge on egg-related dishes,” Torcato said.
Kuhio Avenue Food Hall owner and Hawaii Restaurant Association board member Mike Palmer said they are not alone.
“I have heard of places of recommending surcharges starting a few weeks ago, which I completely understand,” Palmer said. “They have to do that to offset the increase in the price.”
Cinnamon’s Restaurant in Kailua, another popular breakfast spot, is opting not to charge extra for eggs yet.
“So we made the conscious choice to eat it, no pun intended, for the first three weeks, and then kind of see how it goes,” Cinnamon’s owner Alexander Nam explained.
If things don’t get better, the other option being considered by Cinnamon’s and Big Island Grill is cutting egg-heavy items.
“We kind of have an emergency menu kind of ready to go if (the egg shortage) does continue,” Nam said.
“We’re not at that point yet,” Torcato explained. “We’re still surviving off of what we can get in to operate.”
The shortage is impacting more than just breakfast spots because eggs are in so much more.
“This a very big ingredient, used in many things,” Palmer explained. “Especially baked goods. A lot of things you don’t think about.”
So far, he said Kuhio Avenue Food Hall hasn’t been hit too hard, but if the shortage continues everyone will feel it.
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The hope is the avian flu dies down and the egg supply picks up. But until then Palmer has this message.
“Consumers should expect to see things, surcharges, on menus and things like that. Especially starting with mom and pops, because they get hit hardest.”