Scrambled egg market leaves prices at an all-time high
NEWINGTON, Conn. (WTNH) — Egg prices show no signs of coming down. The avian flu keeps spreading, killing entire commercial flocks. The Stew Leonard's chain is finally joining some other stores in limiting how many eggs each customer can buy.
'It's been a struggle to get eggs,' Craig Makowski, the grocery and dairy manager in the Newington store said. 'My orders are basically cut a third every week of what I really need.'
The limit is now four cartons per customer per visit. A nationwide outbreak of avian flu has forced the slaughter of millions of chickens.
As egg prices continue to soar, grocers like Trader Joe's limit how many cartons customers can buy
'It makes it very difficult We try our best to have eggs to sell to our customers every single week,' Makowski said. 'We're on top of it. We work very closely with the egg company. They're in a very good partnership with us.'
If you know Stew Leonard's and their ads, you know at Thanksgiving, Stew Leonard Jr. is talking about their turkey farm. At Christmas time, he's talking about the Christmas tree farm. It turns out they have their own egg supplier, as well. It's in Pennsylvania Amish country, and Makowski actually visited there with Stew Leonard, Jr.
'A hen came flying off and landed right on Stew,' Makowski remembered. 'It was actually the picture on our egg cartons. So, I happened to be a part of it when that happened, so it was actually a very fun day.'
What is not so fun is having to raise prices because the supply is so low. The store has to charge more, and customers have to pay.
'What am I going to do now, not buy it? So I don't really pay attention to the prices of stuff like that, to be honest,' said Naugatuck resident Joe Cruz, shopping with his young son. 'What are we going to do, not do that?'
Unfortunately, it looks like the egg market is going to remain scrambled for a while.
'We're hoping supply gets better and things get closer back to normal, but as far as right now, I don't see any changes in the market,' Makowski said.
With buying limits, they hope to at least keep the shelves stocked for their customers.
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