In our spotlight on Business Report tonight.

You might have seen the empty egg shelves at your grocery store or maybe they're limiting the number of cartons you can buy.

Or maybe you're paying more for breakfast at your local diner.

Whatever your situation, it's hard not to be affected by the rising cost of eggs.

From December to January alone, prices spiked by 15%, mostly due to a short supply caused by the spread of avian flu.

Raven Santana talks to local business owners about the impact they're feeling and where egg prices go from here.

Well, I used to I used to spend $10 a week on eggs, and now I'm spending 25 a week on eggs.

So not only have eggs become expensive, but they're also becoming hard to find due to the ongoing spread of avian flu.

As the bird flu continues to wipe out flocks at farms, consumers like Brooks Furniture Back say they're also feeling the pain financially.

Now I'm just going to have to go and price and price shop basically, and find the best deal I can, you know.

His sentiments are echoed by shopper Paul SHAPIRO, who says the price hike is hard to ignore.

What's the most you pay for eggs?

I usually get a 30 pack and came out to about $19.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average cost of a dozen grade-A large eggs was $4.95 in January, up from $4.15 in December.

This comes after the latest consumer Price Index shows that the price of eggs is up 53% from where it was a year ago, according to the USDA.

The average price of a dozen eggs is now $7.95, up from $3.30 this time last year.

And according to professor of finance and economics at Rutgers Business School, Parul Jain, it could take months before we see some relief.

I don't think there's going to be any new relief because once the avian flu was detected on any particular firm, the cleanup and the sanitation can take a pretty long time.

And then, you know, since all the birds are killed, we have to wait for fresh catch.

It's not going to be an overnight process.

So I think it could be very well in the vicinity of about 6 to 9 months that we're looking for any end of relief or relief from deflation.

A concerning reality that is on the minds of business owners like Jimmy Dante's.

Last January case of eggs.

30,000.

It's about between 40 and $50 a case right now to 25 a case.

Dauntless is the co-owner of the Roxy Diner with his brother and mom.

They are not raising their prices yet.

Despite the rising cost of eggs.

He says it's all costing him anywhere between 10,000 and $20,000 per week.

It used to be able to balance out your menu.

Okay, I make this much on prime rib, but I made this much on egg so I can serve prime rib.

It affects everything is the there's a chain reaction.

You know, if eggs go up, you know, maybe everything else is going to go up.

I don't know.

But it's it affects your bottom line.

It affects what you get to keep.

You know, you're working the same hours and all of a sudden you're making a lot less money.

He's now worried about passing that burden on to customers and says he may need to pivot if prices don't decline by April.

One of the options that we discussed is we when we make a sandwich that involves eggs, we always put two eggs on there.

We said, maybe we'll just do one egg.

I mean, you're still getting the flavor at everything.

And I think it won't be as noticeable.

And it's probably maybe a better option than charging people more.

Dauntless also says another option could be adding a temporary 50 cent per egg surcharge to his menu, as he now fears prices could continue to hike for new Spotlight news.

I'm Raven Santana.