A national egg shortage and skyrocketing prices have led to Waffle House adding a surcharge on eggs to keep up with the lack of supply.
In the face of yet another avian influenza (bird flu) outbreak, which wiped out more than 14 million birds in January, Waffle House has announced that it is now putting a 50 cent per egg surcharge on what the Associated Press is reporting as the biggest bird flu outbreak in a decade.
Eggs have been hard to come by in Florida, as grocery stores have struggled to keep up with demand.
Egg prices: Egg prices have increased 61% since December. Here’s why
In Pensacola, Florida, the price for a dozen eggs averaged around $5.36 for a dozen, when online prices were compared on Feb. 3 between grocery retailers like Publix, Winn-Dixie and Walmart.
Those prices marked a 29.4% increase from the national average of $4.14 reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in December.
The price of eggs across the country has risen to $6.70 per dozen, according to the USDA’s Jan. 31 egg markets overview report, which is a 61.8% increase from December.
Why is Waffle House adding an egg surcharge?
The price of eggs began skyrocketing toward the end of November. In December, the average price for a dozen eggs in the United States hit $4.15, approaching a record of $4.82 per dozen set in 2023.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) expects egg prices to increase another 20%. The latest USDA egg markets overview report published on Jan. 31 indicated that the weekly price of large loose shell eggs hit $6.70.
The report noted that the demand for eggs strengthened while supplies remained tight. The result of high demand and low supply means higher prices for consumers.
How long will Waffle House have an egg surcharge?
Waffle House currently doesn’t have an answer.
“While we hope these price fluctuations will be short-lived we cannot predict how long this shortage will last,” the company told AP.
Why is Florida seeing an egg shortage?
A recent report from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), it observed that wholesale prices for graded eggs have continued to increase as supplies continued to be limited. It was noted that bird flu had devastated flocks in December and continue to do so in January.
“Outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in commercial table egg layer flocks that resulted in the depopulation of 13.2 million birds in December 2024 continue into January 2025,” the USDA wrote in its report.
“As of this week, 16 APHIS-confirmed outbreaks in 7 states (AZ, CA, NC, OH, MO, IN, and WA) have resulted in the loss of 14 million birds – 11.9 million (85%) in conventional caged systems, 2.1 million (15%) in cage-free systems, and 26,000 organic (0.2%). These losses represent 6.5% of the conventional caged layer flock, 2.1% of the non-organic cage-free flock, and 0.1% of the organic flock on Jan. 1, 2025. “
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Waffle House adds egg surcharge amid worst bird flu outbreak in decade
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