Denny’s has joined Waffle House and other businesses in raising prices to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of eggs amid a nationwide shortage.
The South Carolina-based diner chain plans to add a surcharge to menu items served with eggs at some of its 1,500 eateries.
Denny’s declined to list which restaurants would be impacted or how much each store would charge, but said in a statement that the company is working to “minimize the impact market volatility” has on its customers.
“Due to the nationwide egg shortage and increased cost of eggs, some of our restaurant locations will need to temporarily add a surcharge to every meal that includes eggs,” Denny’s said. “This pricing decision is market-by-market, and restaurant-by-restaurant due to the regional impacts of the egg shortage.”
The shortage is largely caused by the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) that has affected nearly 19 million birds in the past 30 days. According to the USDA, 137 flocks of birds have been impacted by HPAI infection.
The latest Denny’s news comes three weeks after Waffle House imposed a 50 cent per egg surcharge to offset the costs its eateries had been incurring due to rising prices. Stores including Costco, Sam’s Club and Trader Joe’s have also imposed limits on how many eggs customers can buy.
In January, the average price of a dozen Grade A eggs in U.S. cities reached a then-record high of $4.95. According to the USDA, that price has since topped $8 per dozen.
President Trump campaigned in August that if elected, he would “immediately bring prices down, starting on day one,” which was Jan. 20. Sen. Chuck Schumer recently posted a montage of Trump repeating such promises on Instagram, captioning that video “Promises broken.”
Trump has blamed the Biden Administration for the high price of eggs. He said on Friday that Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins would “do something with the eggs,” according to NewsNation.
But the USDA anticipates egg prices will continue to rise while HPAI remains a problem.