Lots of dough: How local bakers are navigating ingredients price hikes in the middle of king cake season
If you’ve been to the grocery store recently, odds are you’ve seen a higher ticket price on items like eggs, butter and even flour. Though most of us can do with buying less of these items, local bakeries need these pricey ingredients to make their fan-favorite items, which this time of year, include king cakes and Valentine’s Day treats.
Inflation is hitting Baton Rouge bakers hard, and in some cases it’s resulting in the removal of menu items or price hikes.
“Globally, as different things happen there is an impact on raw ingredients,” says CouterspaceBR owner Sarah Joy Hays, referencing a variety of events such as the Ukraine war affecting flour prices. “It’s funny because bakeries are one of the few places that need both dry goods like wheat, dairy goods like cow-produced butter and cream and also eggs. A restaurant can come up with eggless dishes pretty easily or flourless dishes. Bakeries will have to always be pulling from wheat, dairy and egg.”
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Cupcake Junkie owner Robyn Selders says she’s had to go up in prices on some of her popular products, like cookies, in order to support herself and compensate for ingredient prices, but she’s still seeing a significant drop in revenue.
Hays says that it’s hard to set the prices of her products with the fluctuating cost of ingredients.
“We set our prices based on what we presume we can shop things for and we haven’t changed our prices in over a year,” she says. “We’re just hoping that as one thing spikes in price, another thing might come down, which generally speaking has been the case.”
The trends have also affected micro bakers like Maru Bread Co’s Moeko Glynn, who makes treat boxes, breads, king cakes and traditional French galette des rois from her home kitchen. Glynn has had to increase prices because of the quality ingredients she likes to use.
“I don’t want to, but I have to,” Glynn says. “So, that kind of sucks for customers and for me too. I don’t want to use the cheapest ingredients. I always buy a cage-free egg. I use organic milk, and I always use organic flour. I don’t want to compromise that. So I have to pay what I have to pay, and I’m trying to find a good price.”
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Both Hays and Selders say the prices of ingredients may cause some fan-favorite items to be absent from the menu for a little while. Selders has already taken a break from making her homemade banana pudding and her popular Ooey Gooey dessert as those items require a surplus of pricey components. Hays is weighing if her popular quiches will make her Easter menu later this year.
While the busy king cake season and the influx of Valentine’s Day orders brings higher sales volume, bakers are looking for new ways to compensate for the inflated ingredient prices. Hays says online orders and inquiries of shipments to other states have helped. Selders has pivoted to sell king cakes by the slice, so that her customers don’t spend as much and she can profit off a just few cakes at a time. Selders says a higher fee for brown sugar has her thinking about using a generic brand over her favorite name brand.
But even when there’s a workaround for one ingredient, Hays—whose king cake recipe doesn’t use costly eggs—has seen an increase in the price for the boxes she uses to protect her treats.
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These small business owners have been baking for years, yet they all agree that they haven’t seen a price jump quite like the one they’re seeing now. While they’re hoping that prices will once again drop, they want customers to be mindful that they’re also affected by high grocery prices both personally and professionally.
“I think it’s important for individuals to understand that if their costs increase individually and personally, ours do as well,” Hays says. “I wish that we could buffer that in a different or unique way … We’re all kind of in the same boat.”
Glynn agrees.
“Of course, I love baking but at the same time I have to pay bills and stuff,” she says “I know the customer has a choice. My pastries may be more expensive than other bakeries, I guess. But I know it’s worth it too.”
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If customers don’t have the means to buy sweet treats at this time, Hays says Baton Rougeans can support local bakers by purchasing small items and interacting with social media posts to help bakeries reach a new audience. She says it’s also helpful when companies use local businesses as a resource for corporate gifting.
Though king cake season will come to an end along with the rush of Valentine’s Day orders, the bakers are hopeful prices will mellow out over time and loyal, new customers will see the quality in the ingredients of their baked goods.
“Everything that I do is for my customers,” Selders says. ”When I’m in the kitchen, I’m baking with them in mind … It brings me nothing but joy when I know that they’re enjoying my products. Everyone who is sticking by my side and continuing to support me, I appreciate them and I love them beyond words because they understand.”
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