Egg shortages: Norwich bakeries hit as rationing brought in

The outbreak of bird flu has seen millions of animals culled in the past couple of months, meaning vast numbers of eggs are simply not being laid. 

The problem has seen Lidl rationing the number of boxes people can buy. 

Meanwhile, Wetherspoon's in Great Yarmouth took eggs off its menu entirely - blaming the disease. 

Wetherspoon spokesman, Eddie Gershon, said: "We can confirm that there are temporary issues with egg supplies at some Wetherspoon pubs, including The Troll Cart in Great Yarmouth, due to the current impact of Avian flu on egg production.” 

And for popular bakers in Norwich who rely on eggs to make their living the shortage has been "disastrous". 

Kaysie Davidson, who runs The Baking Addict out of Old Catton, has seen the shortage in supermarkets.  

The mum, who delivers across Norwich, explained: “If I couldn't get hold of eggs it would have disastrous effects on my business.

“Pretty much everything I make has eggs and I wouldn't know how to do it with an alternative.” 

Kaysie added all her ingredients are becoming more expensive.

She said: “I’m finding that in order to keep my prices the same I’m having to use cheaper ingredients which luckily hasn’t changed the taste. Everything is getting so expensive.” 

Another city bakery struggling with inflated prices and ingredient shortages is Two Magpies Bakery in Timberhill.

Co-owner, Steve Magnall, said: “Energy is our biggest rising cost – it will cost us more than £200k this year.  

"Dairy has now almost doubled and on top of that flour has gone up by 25pc. 

"We also have another price increase on its way.

“Everything is being impacted – we made a profit last year which was good.  

“But this year we are looking at being completely wiped out and might breakeven at best. We can’t pass the costs on to the consumers all the time.” 

Both bakery bosses pleaded with shoppers to choose local this winter instead of buying from bigger brands.