HIGH POINT, N.C. — With each trip to the grocery store, more and more families are left in sticker shock.
Grocery prices are up about 12% over last year with the price of a dozen eggs climbing to $4.25 this week.
That's an increase of 238% from just one year ago when the price was $1.79 per dozen.
The high egg cost is leaving small businesses scrambling to keep their costs in check.
"The 60-count box of eggs, before Thanksgiving, was like $11. Right now it is going for $23 and we're kind of preparing for it to go up a little bit more," said Melissa Estrada, Manager of the Sweet Dough Bakery in High Point.
Estrada says eggs are one of their biggest purchases since they are a main ingredient in many of their sweet treats.
"It's in our rolls, it's in our cookies, it's in our brownies, it's in everything," said Estrada. "Finance wise, we are completely having to redo everything just because we are noticing that the price of eggs is going up. So we have to keep that in mind constantly."
Estrada says they have been forced to raise their prices, twice, due to the high cost of eggs.
Although customers have noticed the higher prices, most understood the reason behind the increase.
"It's hard a little bit for us just because we want to make sure we are offering great prices for our items, but we are constantly having to update them, especially with the new year. We just updated it one more time," said Estrada.
According to the USDA, the rising cost of eggs has been fueled by holiday demand.
An outbreak of avian flu has also killed 60 million egg-laying hens.
A weekly report published by the USDA indicates prices have began to decline as the egg supply continues to rise.
Welcome news to small businesses like Sweet Dough, who hope to shell out a little less dough to satisfy their customers sweet tooth.
"All we're doing is hoping that the prices will go down if not, maybe will buy some chickens," said Estrada.