TULSA, Okla. — “Eggs are gold, if you can find a lot of eggs... you won the lottery," Tally Alame said.
Tally Alame owns Tally's Good Food Cafe.
“It’s a popular place well known for breakfast and what goes with breakfast? A lot of eggs," Alame said.
Getting access to his top ingredient is harder than it used to be for him. Every week he uses 45 cases of 15 dozen eggs, but in recent months, he says his supplier has only been able to provide five cases and those eggs cost more. With lower supply, he's forced to turn to other sources, which he said are often more costly.
“So what do I have to do? I have to go to Walmart, Sam's, Braums, any places that I can find more eggs. I’m not paying 80 or 90 cents a dozen, I’m paying $7 a dozen $8 dollars a dozen. This is crazy!" Alame said.
To find out why supply is low and prices are high, 2 News Oklahoma went to the source.
Nate Beaulack is the CEO of Prairie Creek Farms. His farm has 1300 pasture-raised chickens. Those chickens produce eggs to help meet the demand in Tulsa and Oklahoma City.
“Our job as farmers, is to always do right by the animal first, and then properly and accurately communicate with the customers what they will be able to see in terms of product availability and product cost," Beaulack said.
Beaulack said in the last 10 months, being able to keep up with the cost of production is a challenge because his expenses are up, too.
“Prices for everything, our boxes that we use here on the farm, our egg cartons… our egg labels," Beaulack said.
Aside from the cost of production, he said supply is limited because an Avian flu outbreak, which took millions of conventionally raised chickens off the market.
“It’s created a gap between the chickens that should be alive and laying right now that were euthanized, and then those chickens that are up and coming and that’s the gap that we see right now and that’s affected the supply," Beaulack said.
As Beaulack tries to navigate higher prices and lower supply, Alame said he's doing everything he can to keep his business running.
“I have no choice right now, just to buy it for a higher dollar, keep the prices low, so I can make the customer happy," Alame said.
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