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In a business she began a few years ago, Mila Vuckovic is now using her pension plan to make payments on her bakery to cope with high inflationary costs.
“It’s very hard and we are struggling,” Vuckovic said Tuesday. “We are doing this because we hope better things are to come, but there might not be anything better to come.”
Mila Vuckovic outside her Regina bakery on Sept. 20, 2022. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)
Vuckovic, the owner of Baba’s Dough Box in Regina, said the cost to operate doesn’t leave any extra dough to go into her pockets.
The owner and her husband are funnelling their savings into the business.
Statistics Canada came out with inflation rates Tuesday, with baking products hitting 15.4 per cent higher than what they were last year at this time. Vuckovic said her costs go even higher.
“For the baking supplies, it’s unbelievable,” Vuckovic said, noting the cost of baking supplies rose by 40 per cent. “That’s out of this world.”
A 20-kilogram bag of flour that was $16 before Christmas now costs $25. Vuckovic said there is no way to budget “day by day” with prices rising and falling.
Supplies are not the only things that have taken a bite out of Vuckovic’s wallet. The price to package all of her cookies, bread and cinnamon buns has gone up as well.
“Our containers before Christmas, I was buying them for $110,” said Vuckovic. “Now they are asking for $210 for the same packages.”
Many customers were not happy when Vuckovic increased the prices of her products, but she explained she had to to keep the lights on.
Mila Vuckovic is facing rising costs due to inflation. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)
“Believe me, even if you put a price increase by five to 10 cents, customers are complaining,” said Vuckovic. “Some people, God bless them, they are heaven; they know prices went up. But some of them, they put you down.”
Vuckovic said it was a tough decision to increase the prices for her baking. She prides herself on operating a business that is organic with no preservatives. Because of that, much of the food that doesn’t sell goes to the food bank to be eaten.
“I wouldn’t feed you anything I wouldn’t feed my own grandchildren,” she said.
Vuckovic typically sees larger crowds near Thanksgiving and Christmas, and she hopes the extra business around that time will give her business the boost that’s needed to make it through the next batch of payments.
“We are all in the same boat,” said Vuckovic, referring to other bakeries as well as her own. “I see a lot of businesses with the same problem. I’m not the only one. I just say we have to hope and pray that everything goes back to normal.”
Eryn Smith, the owner of Regina’s Sinfully Sweet Cathedral Bakery, is having the same issues as Vuckovic.
“It’s defeating,” said Smith. “But we have had lots of support from our clients, and they are more than happy to pay more, and that makes my heart happy.”
Smith uses actual butter in her buttercream and the price of butter has significantly increased. Butter was $2.99 a pound when she first began her business seven years ago; now the no-name brand is $5.99.
“So when you are going through 80 pounds-plus of butter a week, the price is astronomical the way things have gone up,” said Smith.
According to Smith, flour, sugar and cooking oil have doubled or quadrupled in price. To keep up, Smith has started to use coupons or drive the distance to get cheaper items.
Eryn Smith at Sinfully Sweet. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)
“When you’re saving $3 a pound for butter for 75 pounds, the extra $10 in gas really is not that bad,” said Smith.
Smith said her gourmet cupcakes were $30 a dozen when the store first opened seven years ago; now, they’re $45 a dozen.
“We can only charge a customer so much,” said Smith. “We just did a price increase in January because there would be no way that we would be able to keep going otherwise, but prices for everything have still increased so we are still barely breaking even.”
Smith said she would hate to see Sinfully Sweet turn into a “luxury” cake store because it needs to price its products higher to compete with inflationary costs.
“I honestly hate doing price increases,” said Smith. “I don’t like charging what we charged already. We like to have a business where everyone can purchase our products.”
With bakery costs continuing to rise, Smith said hiking prices would be likely so she can keep the doors open.
“I don’t want to do another price increase by the end of the year, but we’ve got to keep the lights on,” said Smith.