Skyrocketing egg prices leave restaurants scrambling. ‘It’s like the stock market.’

Eggs aren’t just expensive in 2025.

They’re difficult to find at all, especially for those who need them in bulk.

Anthony Lauro, the owner of Anthony’s Cheesecake & Restaurant in Bloomfield, has spent recent mornings calling food distributors, markets and grocery stores to check not only prices but inventory.

“I have to call (Costco) in the morning, ask them if the eggs came in,” Lauro told NJ Advance Media this week. “She said, ‘Yes, get over here as soon as you can, because they’ll be gone.’ They had 1,200 cases. By the time I got there at 3 p.m., they were gone.”

A strain of avian flu called H5N1 began sweeping the country in 2022, killing millions of chickens — more than 20 million died or were killed in the U.S. last quarter alone, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture — and causing the shortage of eggs.

So followed the skyrocketing prices for an ingredient essential to restaurants, bakeries, bagel shops and other eateries around the Garden State. Prices began to climb again last July and have continued to rise, with prices up 36% year-over-year in December, according to the Consumer Price Index. It’s a similar phenomenon to what took place in 2023, when egg prices also shot also through the roof, and became a point of contention throughout New Jersey and beyond.

NJ Advance Media spoke to several restaurant owners and chefs this week, and all of them said the cost of eggs has become volatile and astronomical. Many in the business are taking a good, hard-boiled look at their prices and seriously considering raising them. Some already have, in step with Waffle House’s decision to add a 50-cent surcharge for egg dishes.

A few weeks ago, Lauro said he was able to get a dozen eggs for $3.40. This week he saw a dozen eggs going for $8. He hunts around for the best price, sometimes clearing out his local ShopRite if the price is better than Costco.

“It’s like the stock market,” Lauro said. “I have to text my guys weekly. ‘What are egg prices this week?’”

READ MORE: The surprising reason Wegmans eggs are cheaper as prices soar at other supermarkets

‘It wasn’t a hard decision’

When customers walk into Montclair’s Walnut Street Bagels & Co., they’re greeted by a menu of inventive bagel sandwiches — and a notice that those items, along with any others featuring eggs, will be a dollar more expensive than usual.

“It wasn’t a hard decision, but it was one we know could upset some people,” owner Beverly Lacsina said. “It is important that our customers feel they are getting the most for what they pay for, however when we see there is a drastic change in pretty much the most vital ingredient outside of flour, we have to also make it make sense for the business to sustain itself.”

This is the first time Lacsina has raised prices since the shop opened three years ago. Back then, a pack of 15 dozen eggs cost $26. Now, that same pack costs her more than $85, a 226% mark-up.

Walnut Street Bagels & Co. customers have been understanding so far. But Lacsina knows customers don’t want to pay more for an item they are used to being relatively inexpensive — even as the market has drastically changed.

“A Taylor ham, egg and cheese or bacon, egg and cheese is probably around $8.50,” said Steve Cuccinelli, owner of Wonder Bagels in Jersey City. “If I take that sandwich to $9.50 or $10, they will not buy that sandwich. It becomes a price point where it’s not worth it to go and have that breakfast sandwich.”

Rey De La Cruz, owner of Hawthorne sandwich shop Salt Pepper Ketchup, says this spike in egg prices is even worse than the last one. The worst price he saw for a pack of 30 dozen eggs during the 2023 egg shortage was $175. This time around, he’s seeing prices as high as $220 for the same package.

But even so, he hasn’t raised his prices.

“I can’t justify a $10 bacon, egg and cheese sandwich because the prices suddenly spike,” De La Cruz said.

Amanda Barbaree, the co-owner of Metá Café in Lambertville, has seen the cost of 30 dozen eggs jump from $30 to $275 in some cases. She said she had no choice but to raise prices — though she also added only a dollar.

“We have to at this point,” Barbaree said. “We heard it won’t come down anytime soon.”

Exiting the menu?

Beyond breakfast food, eggs are essential to dishes from around the globe — that includes ramen, the Japanese delicacy that often features a soy-marinated egg in the broth along with noodles, veggies and protein.

KC Gonzalez, owner of Tenmomi Ramen in Nutley, says his shop typically uses around 60 eggs per week — minuscule compared to diners and bakeries that use dozens a day, but still enough to affect the ramen shop’s margins. He’s seen a case of 180 eggs leap from $22 to $90.

He has already raised the price of adding an egg to a bowl (from $1 all the way up to $3.50) and is now is currently mulling removing eggs from the eatery’s menu completely.

It wouldn’t be the first time he’s modified the menu to adapt to costs. Last summer, Gonzalez removed eggs from the menu as the case price hovered around $60. This was met with backlash from customers, and he soon decided to bring eggs back.

”Right now I’m processing taking (eggs) off again permanently,” Gonzalez said. “I really don’t want to make (a single egg) $6 if I don’t have to.”

Related coverage:

• Egg prices skyrocketing in N.J. How long will it last? Here’s everything you need to know.

• The surprising reason Wegmans eggs are cheaper as prices soar at other supermarkets

• Shoppers shell-shocked by 36% spike in egg prices. Here’s why costs soared.

• New Jersey’s 25 best breakfast sandwiches, ranked

• Waffle House egg surcharge: Watch out for this extra charge on your next breakfast

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Christopher Burch can be reached at cburch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @SwishBurch. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips/.

Jeremy Schneider may be reached at jschneider@njadvancemedia.com and followed on Twitter at @J_Schneider and on Instagram at @JeremyIsHungryAgain.