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Huntington baker to tell Congress about rising food prices

BY DEBORAH S. MORRIS | deborah.morris@newsday.com

6:25 PM EDT, April 29, 2008

Richard Reinwald, owner of Reinwald's Bakery in Huntington. (Newsday / Alejandra Villa)

Richard Reinwald said he has no problem admitting that some of the prices he has to charge to keep his Huntington bakery in business are ridiculous, but he feels bad about it.

"It really hurts," Reinwald said. "I've done all that I can do to keep prices down. The customers understand what's going on, that it's not me."

Reinwald has been invited by Sen. Charles Schumer to testify Thursday in Washington, D.C., at the Joint Economic Committee's hearing on soaring food costs. Schumer, chairman of the committee, called the hearing to determine how the rising costs are impacting families.

"I'm going to tell them about the explosive nature of the price increases we have suffered," said Reinwald, first vice president of the Virginia-based Retail Bakers of America. "I would like them to recognize the depth of the pain that the consumer is feeling."

Reinwald said that since December, the most dramatic increases have been in flour-based products. He said semolina flour has gone from $32 per 100 pounds to $72 per 100 pounds. He said rye flour is in such short supply that much of it is imported from Europe.

Reinwald said in two months, rye bread jumped from $2.50 to $3.45, and a sheet cake to feed 40 went from $52 to $70.

Reinwald blames part of the problem on the increased number of cornfields to help produce ethanol at the expense of other crops.

"We need to do more to protect our food supply," Reinwald said.

Other factors driving up prices are increasing demand and poor weather in Australia and South America, Joe Sowers, senior market analyst for the D.C.-based trade group U.S. Wheat Associates, told Newsday in February.

Reinwald, 55, a third-generation baker, opened his shop on New York Avenue in Huntington Village in 1988.

To cut costs, he has accepted two resignations from among his staff of 29 full and part-time employees and looked for savings in utility bills and packaging costs. He cut daily production, but finally, he was forced to increase prices by 4.5 percent in February.

He said with the rising cost of baking basics, staying in business is increasingly becoming a challenge.

"I feel Reinwald's is now at a point where we are becoming a discretionary purchase," Reinwald said. "It shouldn't be that way. The American people are entitled to a wholesome diet. I mean, bread is a basic staple.