WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Soaring gas prices are taking a toll on a local business. The dessert delivery service is forced to work around the cost of fuel with no end in sight. 28/22 News Reporter Colby Hughes caught up with them Saturday for their Easter rush and explained what they are facing.
Inside The Front Porch Bake Shop, workers packed more than 30 orders on Saturday to go out for the Easter holiday. The business, started in 2020, shifted to deliveries only after moving locations in 2025.
“We used to be in Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and we had a bakery case on our front porch. Every weekend, we’d be open, and people would come, and our patrons would take things out of the case, with us waiting on them just like a real bakery, and then we outgrew that property,” The Front Porch Bake Shop Owner Susan Thackara said.
For the last year, they have been delivering desserts to addresses up to an hour away from Wilkes-Barre with no charge. That was until the price of gas started rising and did not stop.
“I put out on Facebook that all new orders will have a delivery surcharge if it’s over a 10-mile radius from where we’re located in Wilkes-Barre,” Thackara explained.
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Thackara said she worries they may lose orders by having that extra charge for delivery.
“Right now, we’re about at the $4 mark. Are we going to $4.50? Are we going to $5? Because, if we are, we definitely have to shorten our range even more,” Thackara described.
Luckily, The Front Porch Bake Shop has faced bumps in the road in the past.
“The price of eggs two Christmases ago? We couldn’t even offer macarons because that’s how much it was. The price of butter has been expensive, chocolate has been expensive, but it’s gone through cycles. Packaging has increased in price, so this is just another thing that we are dealing with,” Thackara added.
Thackara said it’s a waiting game for those prices to go down. She also said her patrons have been understanding of the situation, and she is hoping to expand their delivery range once gas prices come down.
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