Waffle House Adds Surcharge to Its Breakfast Menu as Egg Prices Keep Climbing

With a bird flu outbreak ravaging the nation’s poultry farms, Waffle House says it will begin applying a temporary surcharge to all egg orders to compensate for rising prices. “Consumers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions,” Waffle House said, announcing that every egg item on its menu will be subject to a $0.50 price hike. The surcharge, the beloved fast food chain noted, was “temporary” and will be adjusted or removed “as market conditions allow.” Waffle House, which serves some 2,100 locations, appears to be the first restaurant franchise to adjust prices due to the egg shortage. Eggs are the most popular dish at Waffle House, with the Georgia-based breakfast chain serving up 272 million eggs per year, according to its website. That far surpasses the 153 million hash browns and 124 million waffles that it whips up annually. The bird flu has been wreaking havoc on American farms since the virus first broke out in January 2022. Since then, American farmers have been forced to slaughter more than a 100 million birds, 75 million of whom were laying eggs, the American Farm Bureau Federation reports. Due to the highly contagious nature of the virus, if the flu is detected on a poultry farm, farmers will slaughter the entire flock to prevent the spread. Despite the efforts to stop the virus, the flu spiked in late 2024 and forced farmers to kill an estimated 17 million egg-laying hens in just two months, the Department of Agriculture reports. As a result, the price of eggs in December skyrocketed to a nationwide average of $4.15 for a dozen — nearly double what they cost back in the summer of 2023.With little relief in sight, the Department of Agriculture expects egg prices to increase another 20 percent this year. “Not to be the bearer of bad news, but we’re in this for a while,” said the chief executive of the American Egg Board, Emily Metz. “Until we have time without a detection, unfortunately, this very, very tight egg supply is going to continue.”Egg farms have been forced to invest millions of dollars in biosecurity and adopt increasingly strict protocols to hamper the spread. Farms impacted by outbreaks can apply for financial assistance from the Department of Agriculture. The flu has raised further concerns as it has been popping up in animals other than birds. In December, California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, declared a state of emergency over an outbreak detected in dairy cows. The virus has been detected in dairy cattle in 16 states following its first detection in Texas and Kansas in March 2024. In February, the first human death as a result of the bird flu was recorded. There have been a total of 66 human cases since 2024.

Waffle House Adds Surcharge to Its Breakfast Menu as Egg Prices Keep Climbing

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