Waffle House adds 50-cent per egg surcharge to its menu pricing
Americans can't seem to escape the skyrocketing price of eggs and other groceries — even when splurging on breakfast at Waffle House.
The Georgia-based diner has implemented a new 50-cent per egg surcharge at its roughly 2,100 locations across the U.S., the chain said in a statement Tuesday.
The charge, which went into effect on Feb. 3, is temporary, the chain said, and is the result of the "continuing egg shortage caused by HPAI (Bird Flu)" that has caused a "dramatic increase in egg prices."
"Consumers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions," said the statement. "Rather than increasing prices across the menu, this is a temporary targeted surcharge tied to the unprecedented rise in egg prices."
Eggs will continue to be available in customers' favorite menu items despite the extra charge, according to the chain, which also said it hopes the price fluctuations will be "short-lived." Waffle House serves around 272 million eggs per year, according to its website, well surpassing even its titular waffles, of which it sells just 124 million.
"We are continuously monitoring egg prices and will adjust or remove the surcharge as market conditions allow," the statement ended.
The stage was set for rising egg prices when the current bird flu outbreak began in the U.S. in 2022. Currently, consumers are seeing high prices and shortages thanks primarily to the highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, which is killing off egg-laying poultry en mass, creating supply challenges.
By Feb. 3, the virus had infected roughly 150 million poultry across all 50 states since January 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Because of the spread, infected birds have been selectively slaughtered across the U.S., including sometimes millions of birds at a single location.
This, combined with factors like inflation and in some cases changing laws and regulations, has left consumers feeling the pain in grocery stores and at breakfast tables.
Comparing egg prices from December 2024 to December 2023, the latest price information available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index, egg prices have increased nationwide by 65.1%. The average cost in December 2024 for a dozen Grade A eggs in the U.S. was $4.15 compared to $2.51 in December 2023. The next Consumer Price Index is due out in mid-February, which would update prices through January.
The $3.65 per dozen price is just an average and prices have increased since December. According to the latest USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) report on Jan. 31, the wholesale price for a carton of large eggs in the New York market rose to $7.25 per dozen. That was up from $6.06 a dozen in its Jan. 3 report. The Midwest region saw prices at $7.03 per dozen, up from $5.75 in early January and California wholesale prices softened to $8.72 per dozen in the Jan. 31 report compared to $8.97 on Jan. 3.
Contributing: Betty Lin-Fisher, USA TODAY
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