METAIRIE (WGNO)— Local bakeries are having problems getting the supplies they need to keep up with the high demand of king cakes this carnival season.
A lot of ingredients go into making your favorite, delicious king cake, but what happens when the ingredient supply is low?
“We’re making everything from scratch so we just have to keep up with everything,” Tony Louga, General Manager at Gambino’s Bakery said.
Over at Gambino’s Bakery they are making sure they need to have enough sugar, yeast, and enough flour in stock.
“The white yeast has been the toughest to keep up with,” he said.
With a supply shortage, this could affect king cake season.
“It has been a challenge, but we have stepped it up a lot,” Louga said.
They’ve stepped it up by ordering as much as they can from their suppliers.
“We are doubling up on everything right now. We rented out a POD storage just to keep up everything,” Louga said.
He said at the bakery they bake about 350 king cakes a day and they don’t want to run out of key ingredients, yet they are expecting more shortages.
“Icing and sugar, that will be tough to get ahold of,” he said.
With last year not being a normal Mardi Gras this year everyone wants to fufill their king cake fix in a big way.
“I know so far we are up 15-20 percent in our sales. They might come in for one cake, but leave with three cakes,” he said.
Despite challenges, everyone knows it wouldn’t feel like Carnival season without king cakes.
“Our employees are incredible and their doing the best to keep everything going. It just takes a second, but we’re getting into the groove,” Louga said.
Bakers say in addition to baking king cakes they still have their other baking commitments like wedding cakes and birthday cakes, which also use key ingredients.
For more information on Gambino’s Bakery, click HERE.