Local restaurants raise prices due to egg shortage

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — It’s been said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but the prices for that meal are going up, which is causing some restaurants in the area to figure out alternatives.

For Chris’s Restaurant in Wilmington, the price for meals have already gone up.

“We’ve actually gone up right now a dollar extra per breakfast, but that’s subject to change depending as well, as we see how much further this is going to go,” said Angie Tsingelis, owner of Angie’s Catering and Chris’s Restaurant.

Egg supplies hit by the avian flu have led to a widespread shortage, so people like Tsingelis are scrambling for a different plan.

“We can offer more hot cakes and french toast or assorted biscuits, ’cause you can do a sausage biscuit instead of a sausage and egg biscuit,” Tsingelis said.

The owner of Beach Bagels Tony Di Norcia says there are not alternatives for him.

“Not for me, I don’t think,” Di Norcia said. “I think people know that we come in, we make our egg sandwiches fresh. They see us breaking the eggs, cracking the eggs. We have an open kitchen, so I don’t want to use egg products.”

Tsingelis says the price for her weekly order of eggs has almost tripled, but she hopes after being in business for 40 years that her customers stick around.

“We aren’t going to lose them, but it is going to hurt bottom of the line no matter which way you look at it,” Tsingelis said.

Di Norcia says more than half of his menu contains eggs.

“I hope customers understand that if they do go up, it’s not because we want the prices to go up. It’s because we are sort of being forced to do it,” Di Norcia said.

Tsignelis said, “We are only a small part in this picture. The overall picture is really going to be bad.”

ABC News reports the avian flu has affected as many as 40 million birds and prompted four states to declare a state of emergency in recent weeks.