Waffle House is charging customers an extra 50 cents per egg to offset a shortage that’s sent prices soaring with no immediate end in sight.
“The continuing egg shortage caused by HPAI (Bird Flu) has caused a dramatic increase in egg prices,” Waffle House said in a statement sent to the Daily News. “Consumers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions.”
The Georgia-based restaurant chain implemented its price change Monday and hopes the hike is temporary. Waffle House said it opted to affix a surcharge simply to eggs rather than hiking prices on all menu items to offset higher costs the company is incurring.
Waffle House said it will continue monitoring the national poultry problem and plans to roll back the surcharge as markets adjust.
“While we hope these price fluctuations will be short-lived we cannot predict how long this shortage will last,” the company stated.
Waffle House isn’t alone in feeling the effects of the bird flu, which has led to egg prices nationally averaging $4.12 per dozen. The USDA expect prices to jump another 20% in 2025 as agriculture workers try to replenish their bird populations. At this time last year, a dozen eggs were $3.50, according to consumer research group NIQ.
Roughly 17 million egg-laying hens were killed in the final two months of 2024 as a result of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
CNN business reporter Vanessa Yurkevich said Wednesday that Waffle House’s 2,100 locations sell 272 million eggs per year, which is double what the chain sells in waffles.
“There are simply fewer eggs and eggs are getting more expensive,” Yurkevich explained.
Waffle House’s two-egg breakfast sold for $7.75 Tuesday. It’s served with toast and a side dish. The franchise is largely situated in Southern states and the Midwest.
Eggs prices became a political football during last year’s election, where President Trump vowed to begin lowering grocery prices immediately.
“I won an election based on that,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” after defeating Democrat Kamala Harris in November. “We’re going to bring those prices way down.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt last week blamed the culling of infected chickens under the Biden Administration for a lack of egg production and higher costs.
News Wire Services