WEST BEND, Wis. — The egg shortage and high costs make it hard for cafe owners to flourish in the breakfast food business.
No Way Café co-owner Jackie Cull said the egg shortage has had an extra impact on her organic and gluten free restaurant.
"Everything takes eggs," she said. "I think it just hits us small and local places harder. We don't have the big pocket books like the big chain stores."
Watch: How this local cafe is adapting to the most expensive eggs ever seen:
She owns the building with her husband Aaron Cull, who said they're able to stay open despite the high food costs because they don't have to pay rent.
According to the USDA, eggs cost $5.81 per dozen in January, and climbed to an all time high in early March at $8.17.
Some restaurants have added an extra fee to certain foods due to the high costs. Aaron said they haven't felt the need to do that yet.
"It jumped two bucks in a week and a half!" Aaron said. "We'll probably leave it for now, but if it keeps going up then we're going to definitely add something because it's all coming out of profit, you know?"
The Culls hope the shortage stops soon as prices began to decrease mid-March. Jackie said No Way Café is one of the few restaurants that only serves gluten free food, something people don't realize can be hard to find.
"I have girls coming in in tears because they can eat anything here and not worry about getting gluten sick and they love that," she said.
Jane Kadow ate breakfast with her daughter Sara Drew on Thursday.
"We like eggs, and I do buy them but they've gotten too darn expensive! It's really hard to afford them," she said. "We used to be able to have a breakfast for $18 and now it's like $25 at least for the same stuff."
The high cost impacts No Way Café's other foods that require eggs like, donuts, muffins and french toast.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
