Familiar Omaha bakery closing over ingredient costs

By Abbie Petersen

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    OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — Tuesday marked five years of business for a Benson cookie company, Baked After Dark. But unfortunately, it will also be their last.

The owner says with the high price of ingredients they just can’t keep going anymore.

Frosting their infamous cinnamon rolls and scooping up cookies, Baked After Dark is preparing for a bittersweet goodbye.

“It’s been a success. I mean, I really don’t feel like we have anything to be ashamed of,” said owner Stacey Johnson.

Johnson says they’ve been in business for five years. It was her dream. Now, it’s over because it’s getting too costly.

“Right now, eggs are a huge issue. Not only are they in short supply but egg prices have gone up 192% in the last year,” Johnson said.

At 25 dozen eggs a week, Johnson says it adds up.

But Johnson says it’s not only eggs that are more expensive, it’s other ingredients like flour and butter. She says they used to get their butter from Costco where it used to be $8.99 for four pounds. That is now $14.99.

On top of that, Johnson says labor costs have gone up, they’ve been struggling to hire people. But they’re not willing to pass the price on to their sweet customers.

“We think about what our family could afford to pay for a cookie, and I take that into consideration. I mean, we can’t charge $5 a cookie,” Johnson said.

Despite closing, Baked After Dark won’t go completely dark.

They’re hoping to be at the farmer’s market in the spring where they started.

“It will be back there in the same capacity that we started. And sometimes we feel like you just need to take a breath and reset and maybe get back to your roots,” Johnson said.

Their last night will be Jan. 21.

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