Waffle House is adding a 50-cent charge to each egg it sells as avian flu drives up prices

Waffle House said that the egg surcharge took effect on Monday.

Talia Lakritz/Business Insider

Waffle House is adding a 50-cent surcharge to each egg that its customers order.The chain opted for the per-egg fee instead of a broader increase in menu prices.Waffle House added the fee as avian influenza kills chickens and drives egg prices higher.

Waffle House is charging customers extra for each egg they order as avian influenza sends prices higher.

The chain said it started adding a 50-cent surcharge for each egg it sells from Monday. The charge is temporary, and the restaurant could adjust or eliminate it if prices change, Waffle House said.

Waffle House added the fee instead of raising costs across its menu as it copes with an “unprecedented rise in egg prices,” the company said.

“The continuing egg shortage caused by HPAI (Bird Flu) has caused a dramatic increase” in costs, Waffle House said in a statement. “Consumers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions.”

“While we hope these price fluctuations will be short-lived, we cannot predict how long this shortage will last,” Waffle House said.

Some customers posted about the surcharge on X, formerly known as Twitter:

Restaurants, grocery shoppers, and others are being hit with rising egg prices as avian flu continues to circulate in the US. The disease has spread among egg-laying chickens over the last few years, killing many birds and resulting in higher egg prices.

In December, the cost of a dozen grade-A eggs was $4.15, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s up from $1.79 in December 2021, before the latest round of avian flu started spreading.

Kevin Roose, a technology columnist at the New York Times, posted on Sunday that he paid a $1.50 per-egg fee at another restaurant:

In recent years, consumers have dealt with higher prices for other grocery staples. Inflation was one of the major issues in the presidential election last fall.

But President Donald Trump’s administration has said relief from high prices will not be immediate. Vice President JD Vance said last month that “it’s going to take a little bit of time” for the cost of food to come down.

CNN earlier reported the new fee.

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