How Egg Prices Are Affecting Your Mardi Gras Paczki Orders: Report

CHICAGO, IL — This Mardi Gras, Chicago area customers may notice the price of a paczki has gone up.

Egg prices have soared to new highs recently due to massive outbreaks of bird flu all over the U.S. Nationally, the average cost for a carton of eggs is $4.95, but in the Chicago area a carton of eggs will run you more than $7 in some stores.

Bakeries in the Chicago area that have been preparing paczki dough for Fat Tuesday for weeks say the skyrocketing price of eggs has added strain to production costs and caused them to raise prices.

Slawa Dudek, a manager at Olympia Bakery in Hickory Hills, told the Chicago Tribune that the cost of liquid eggs used to make dough has raised 300 percent since last year. At Olympia Bakery, the price of a regular paczki has increased from $1.50 to $2.29 each, according to the Tribune.

“It’s crazy because they go up every week, the price is higher and higher and higher, and we think even after the Fat Tuesday, the price will go up,” Dudek told the Tribune. “You can’t replace eggs for anything because if you want to try to put it less, you’re not going to have the same product.”

Despite the rise in prices, Fat Tuesday is still expected to be a busy day at bakeries across the state.

Read more from the Chicago Tribune: Egg prices soar as Southland bakeries prepare for paczki craze