- Camille's Bakery owner says inflation is putting a strain on her business
- According to the National Federation of Independent Business positive profit trends was a net negative 31% in February 2024
- Watch to learn more about the state of small businesses in Central Omaha
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
It's no secret that inflation is affecting our neighborhoods, in Central Omaha small businesses like Camille's Bakery are fighting to stay alive in the new age of rising costs.
Camille Garza and her husband James have owned and operated Camille's Bakery for almost five years. They opened their doors just before the start of pandemic and like many small businesses have had trouble finding their footing.
According to the National Federation of Independent Businesses Optimist Index, they're not the only ones, positive profit trends was a net negative 31% in February 2024.
"It's digging into our pockets very badly, um butter used to be, a case of butter I remember used to be like 75 bucks now its 150," said Garza.
Despite the rising costs of goods Garza says she won't raise her prices anymore, because she's afraid to push paying customers away.
"Everybody doesn't have that extra money to go out an do things. We're trying really hard not to raise our prices, I think if we've raised our prices it was 10 cents here, 15 cents, we can't charge three dollars for a cookie," said Garza.
NFIB also reports that business owners are worried they won't have enough staff, but at Camille's bakery that's never been an issue.
"Since Covid, we haven't made enough to hire a staff, when we first started that was the idea," said Garza.
But, despite the struggles and fight against inflation Garza says she'll keep making her cookies as long as one customer is coming through the door.
