WEST SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) – The cost of food is on the rise and it’s making it harder for everyone to put healthy food on the table. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently said they predict all food prices to increase in 2025 by 3.4 percent, more specifically with products such as beef, pork, poultry, eggs, and fresh fruits.
We’re two months into 2025, eggs prices are still sky rocketing, and restaurants in our area are feeling that on full affect like at Sunny Side Up, where they’ve actually had to go and add an extra charge for eggs. “It’s very hard for me because this is a small place,” said Sunny Side owner Barbara Lewko.
The USDA predicts that isn’t going to change anytime soon as they say egg prices will increase 41.1 percent in 2025. Lewko told Western Mass News that, at the beginning of January, she was getting a dozen eggs for about $7 and now, less than two months later, she’s being charged about $9.60 and even her own egg supplier has limited inventory. “We’ve tried Costco sometimes,” she added. “I do have other people. I ask for prices, but they’re pretty much all the same.”
Lewko said it’s hard to see egg prices rise, as she has seen in the past with bacon and avocado, because those are some of her main ingredients and, sometimes, when supplier prices rise, so do hers. “…Which is another horrible thing because I hate doing that, but I just can’t deal with these prices anymore. I have to pay my employees,” she noted.
With the beginning of the year being slow months and increasing her prices to add 75 cents per egg, she has had to cut employee hours too and the challenges keep adding up. “We recently switched to cash-only because we can’t cover the credit card expenses, so something has to change because, without, I don’t know if we will be able to keep our doors open,” Lewko said.
As the community continues to come to Sunny Side Up, Lewko hopes prices will come down sooner rather than later, so they can then begin to lower their prices for customers as well.
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