The avian flu resulted in more than 111 million birds being infected or culled between February 2022 and January 2025. The loss of millions of egg-laying chickens caused decreased egg production. With the fall in egg production, retail prices soared. In California, prices rose from about $2.65 a dozen in 2022 to $4 in 2024 to more than $9 a dozen in early 2025.
The impact of avian flu slightly diminished in mid-March 2025. As a result, there was a modest fall in wholesale egg prices. However, the fall in wholesale prices has not yet been reflected in retail prices. So, how are panaderos (bakers) dealing with the rising price of eggs?
High egg prices affect restaurants, especially those serving breakfast. High egg prices also affect bakeries, particularly the smaller, family-owned Mexican bakeries known as panaderias. In Spanish, a panaderia is a bakery that makes bread. In the city of Fresno, there are about 20 neighborhood panaderias. There are more in the surrounding towns.
On Yelp and Google, you will see 4- and 5-star ratings for almost all the panaderias. Professionals, gardeners, construction workers, plumbers—without exception, each person thought highly of the panaderias they usually visit. People are loyal to “their” panaderia for being the “most authentic” and making “the best bread” in the city.
Historically, tortillas were made in the home on the stove. Mexicans did not generally make their other baked goods at home, instead going to panaderias. The French occupation of Mexico from 1861 to 1867 had a significant effect on Mexican baking. Emperor Maximilian brought French cooks and French bakers to Mexico City. The French were expelled in 1867, but many of their baking techniques remained.
Over the years, Mexican bakers developed several new shapes, textures and creative names for their bread products. Scholars estimate there could be as many as 2,000 different varieties of Mexican breads. While one can find many names of Mexican bread in a panaderia, there are basically just two types—sweetened and unsweetened.
Fresno panaderias sell unsweetened pan (bread in the form of French rolls called bolillos). Bolillos are also known as pan francés (French bread) or pan blanco (white bread). They look like short baguettes or French rolls.
Pan dulce (sweet bread), sometimes called pan de huevo (egg bread), is commonly called “Mexican bread.” Separate from the breads are pasteles, or cakes. A pasteleria is a bakery that specializes in making cakes (e.g., wedding cakes, birthday cakes).
Preservatives are traditionally not used in making Mexican bread, as bakers maintain that preservatives spoil the taste of the bread. Whether sweetened or unsweetened, Mexican bread is to be eaten the day it is purchased. The fresher the better.
Most panaderias open between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. and close late in the afternoon. To ensure they get fresh bread, many people go to a panaderia only early in the morning. Although people often go to a panaderia for the pan dulce or the bolillos, many of the Fresno panaderias also have taquerias in the store where they also sell tacos, burritos, tortas, tortillas and tamales.
The largest producer of Mexican bread in Fresno is probably the four Vallarta markets. The other Fresno panaderias are small family-owned bakeries. A baker with the Vallarta Market at Cedar and Dakota avenues said that they have addressed rising egg prices by buying eggs from different distributors, but added that it has been a battle to keep prices down.
Geronimo Saavedra, the baker/owner/founder of Saavedra’s Bakery at Hughes and Dakota avenues, has been in business since 2011. Saavedra and his wife, Maria de la Luz, said that in response to rising egg prices they had to raise prices on their most popular items (such as conchas) from a dollar apiece a year ago to $1.25 today and even larger increases on some of the more expensive items.
Both Vallarta and the smaller bakeries are battling the need to make a profit and still be affordable.
Nevertheless, Saavedra notes that he has no competition. People who come to his bakery like his products and do not go elsewhere. Even if they are in a supermarket that sells Mexican bread they won’t buy it, preferring to come to his bakery.
The bakers at both Vallarta Market and Saavedra’s Bakery said that the larger impact on sales has been fewer customers. Both have noticed fewer people leaving their homes to buy Mexican bread since the beginning of the Trump presidency. Both said many of their customers are frightened (espantados) and fearful (tienen miedo) of being detained by ICE at places where immigrants are known to shop or congregate. They think that Trump’s anti-immigrant threats and policies are having a greater financial impact on their businesses than even the price of eggs.
