Beth’s Cafe, on the aspect of Aurora as you drive by way of Inexperienced Lake, is a battered, venerable diner that for many years has been the place in north Seattle to go when it’s good to eat after midnight. It’s small, it’s unpretentious, it’s family-friendly, and it has an issue: eggs.
As almost everybody is aware of by now, an outbreak of hen flu has killed so many chickens that the provision chain has been badly disrupted. Costs have gone up, shops are struggling to maintain eggs in inventory, and eating places nationwide are scrambling (pun supposed) to navigate the brand new atmosphere. Some locations have modified their menus to de-emphasize eggs whereas others are charging extra — Waffle Home now has a 50-cent per-egg surcharge.
Amongst Seattle eating places, Beth’s is especially affected by this scarcity. It’s well-known for its large, 12-egg omelets, and even its six-egg omelets and three-egg scrambles are heavy on the eggs. The diner goes by way of 15 to twenty circumstances of eggs every week, co-owner Mason Reed (who took over Beth’s final yr) tells Eater Seattle. A case is 15 dozen eggs, so meaning the restaurant cracks open upwards of three,600 eggs every week, which averages to greater than 500 per day.
Because the onset of the hen flu, Reed has been careworn about getting sufficient eggs to satisfy that demand. Beth’s had been sourcing its eggs from Wilcox Farms, however “currently we’ve needed to department out,” the proprietor says. Reed and his crew have been going to Costco and US Meals’s Chef’Retailer and making calls to anyplace which may have eggs. The costs can differ wildly, and a few distributors have limits on what number of eggs they will promote. “It’s been a juggling act,” Reed says.
“I really feel like a drug supplier looking for my supply,” Reed provides. “I’m calling round, going, ‘What’s the value? What number of are you able to supply?’”
It’s not simply the hen flu inflicting costs to rise. Firstly of 2024, a new Washington regulation required all eggs offered within the state to be cage-free. The worth per egg Beth’s was paying jumped from 9 cents to about 27 cents; a case was round $40, Reed says. Up to now few months costs have jumped once more and now Reed is paying anyplace from $80 to $150 per case, relying on the week. “It simply is basically turbulent,” says Reed.
Menu costs mirror these adjustments. In 2020, the Triple Bypass model of the 12-egg omelet (with bacon, sausage, ham, and two sorts of cheese) was $22.50, in line with the Seattle Occasions. In 2023, when Beth’s reopened after a brief closure, the value had ticked as much as $34.95. Now that very same omelet is $41.95. Reed says he’s raised costs twice because the begin of 2024, as soon as to take care of the price of the cage-free regulation and as soon as to offset the price of Seattle’s rising minimal wage.
“Beth’s is known for his or her massive omelets, it’s not one thing I need to eliminate,” Reed says. However he’s considering menu adjustments. Reed says the restaurant could attempt to have extra non-egg choices, together with tofu scrambles, and supply smaller parts for underneath $15. “We’re making an attempt our greatest to maintain costs as little as doable,” he says. Beth’s could supply $42 omelets for the wannabe aggressive eaters on the market, however at its core it’s a diner that’s purported to serve reasonably priced, filling meals to households and dealing folks.
No less than Reed has discovered a secure supply of eggs, for now. “They’re much more than they have been, however [the price] isn’t going up,” he says. His new provider is a California-based firm referred to as Alderwood Eggs, however he hesitates to throw that title round. “I don’t need to put it on the market as a result of I don’t need everybody to purchase all my eggs.”
