Bird flu outbreaks that wiped out about 15 percent of the nation’s egg-laying chickens and drove wholesale egg prices to a peak of more than $8.50 a dozen in February have vexed grocery shoppers and prompted big breakfast chains to add surcharges to diners’ checks. But for owners of small eateries, paying double or triple for an ingredient they crack by the hundreds each day could potentially put them out of business.
Eggs are too perishable to be stockpiled and small businesses generally don’t have extra cash for refrigerator space to keep extra eggs even for brief periods, said Rob Handfield, Poole professor and the director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative.
“It’s not like you can stock up on a month’s worth of eggs,” he said. “You really rely on those weekly or daily deliveries of eggs if you’re a small business.”
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