Will High Egg Costs Ruin Paczki Day? | Eater Chicago

"Operating in Eastern Market’s Gratiot Central Market, owner Erica Pietrzyk routinely purchases 90 to 150 dozen eggs a week to make pierogi dough and estimates that for Paczki Day she goes through an additional 45 to 60 dozen eggs that she’ll use for the paczki dough and the creamy vanilla custard and lemon curd. In 2024 paczki cost $36 per dozen; this year she raised prices to $39: "Really, I should have raised it by $5 but I feel bad," Pietrzyk says, noting she doesn't make a huge profit on paczki and that they are offered largely "out of tradition." She focuses on small batches and reports preorders are down — from the usual 80 to 100 down to about 50 this year — which she attributes to customers tightening their belts and a lack of willingness to pay higher prices for Polish food. Pietrzyk underscores quality differences across makers: "Sometimes, when you go places and it does cost less, they’re either not making it traditionally, or they’re just taking a jelly doughnut and shoving it in a box and slapping the word paczki on it," she says." - Ashok Selvam