One Southern California Baker is struggling to keep up with his business as he deals with price increases.
The NBCLA met 20-year-old Denali Hernandez a few weeks ago. She was leaving the grocery store in South Los Angeles, where she had a long receipt.
She had just spent $106 and when she first started her home bakery, baked by Nari, told us that it was far more than she was paying for.
“It’s really expensive when I’ve only paid $6 before. And despite that being a small adjustment, I buy 30-40 bricks a week.
We recently caught up with Hernandez to discuss more about the reality of being self-employed in an inconsistent economy.
“I look at my prices and the monthly prices of groceries are skyrocketing, which impacts my profits at the end of the business,” she explained. “I hope prices will drop over time, but I have no luck. It’s not going to see it anytime soon.”
Hernandez specializes in attractive cakes and cookies. In other words, she focuses on the prices of eggs and butter.
“I’ve seen 60 packs of eggs go from $11 to $41 from time to time,” she said. “I usually get about $6 or so of butter in four packs, and sometimes I’m paying nearly $9.”
Even a small price increase means less profitable for self-taught Bakers who have grown following over 16,000 followers on Instagram.
Hernandez said he has chosen not to raise prices for now.
“When I look at the same grocery prices, I feel it’s unfair to charge customers more,” she said. “I just want to be affordable and keep my patrons because I know they’ll come for me like countless parties and events.”
The rising grocery prices are what Hernandez said she and her family are used to dealing with.
“It was always very typical. I didn’t grow much. I was raised by a single mother and there were four of us. So she took it all out on her own,” she said. “I saw her struggles grow when she fell in love with buying groceries and things like that.”
Hernandez still lives at home, but dreams of opening her cafe and bakery one day.
“There’s nothing I can do. I just rely on coupons and expect weekly sales,” she said. “I’m always challenging myself, so in the next five or ten years, I’m just trying to challenging whatever my way.”
