‘It’s really expensive.’ South LA baker struggles to keep up with rising prices – NBC Los Angeles

One Southern California baker is struggling to keep up with her business as she deals with rising prices.

NBCLA met 20-year-old Denali Hernandez several weeks ago as she was walking out of a South Los Angeles grocery store holding a long receipt.

She had just spent $106 and told us it was far more than she used to pay when she first started her at-home bakery, Baked by Nali.

“It’s really expensive when I only paid $6 before. And even though it’s a small adjustment, I do buy 30 to 40 bricks a week. So that $2 ends up being like $80 more,” she explained.

We caught up with Hernandez recently to discuss more about the realities of being self-employed in an inconsistent economy.

“I’ve seen my prices, my monthly prices for groceries skyrocket and it does affect my profit on the end of the business,” she explained. “I’m hoping that with time the prices go down. But there’s no luck. It doesn’t look like I’m going to see that anytime soon.”

Hernandez specializes in glamorous cakes and cookies, meaning she keeps a close eye on egg and butter prices, which she said have only continued to rise in recent months.

“I’ve seen the sixty-pack of eggs go from $11 up to $41 sometimes,” she said. “I usually would be able to get a four-pack of butter for about $6 or so. And sometimes I end up paying close to $9.”

Even the slightest price increases can mean less profit for the self-taught baker, who has grown a following of more than 16,000 followers on Instagram.

Hernandez said she is choosing not to raise her prices for now.

“I feel like it’s unfair to charge more to my customers when they’re also looking at those same grocery prices,” she said. “I just want to be affordable and keep my regular customers because I know they would come for me for like countless parties and events.”

Rising grocery prices are something Hernandez said she and her family are used to dealing with.

“It’s always been very typical. I didn’t grow up with much. I was raised by a single mom and there was four of us. So she took all of that on by herself,” she said. “I did see her struggle a lot growing up when it came to like buying groceries and stuff like that.”

Hernandez still lives at home, but dreams of opening her cafe and bakery one day. 

“There’s nothing really I can do. Just, you know, count on coupons, count on weekly sales,” she said. “I’m always challenging myself. So in the next 5 to 10 years, I’m just taking up the challenge of whatever comes my way.”