Denny’s is the latest restaurant to add an egg surcharge amid the nationwide shortage caused by outbreaks of bird flu.
The company announced in a statement that some of its restaurants will be adding a temporary surcharge to meals that include eggs. However, “pricing decisions are being made market-by-market, and restaurant-by-restaurant due to the regional impacts of the egg shortage,” Denny’s said. It stopped short of specifying which locations would be impacted.
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The breakfast chain said it is also working with vendors to “minimize the impact market volatility” has on its costs and menu pricing.
Outbreaks of bird flu, which began in 2022, have severely disrupted the U.S. egg supply, leading to frenzied demand and skyrocketing prices. Prices surged by 15.2% in January, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index. This marked the largest increase in egg prices since June 2015 and accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total monthly rise in food prices, the Labor Department reported.
As the situation persists, major U. S. grocers like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods implemented purchasing limits to ensure product availability for shoppers. Meanwhile, restaurants, already operating on thin margins, have begun passing costs onto consumers.
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Denny’s move comes after Waffle House, a Southern breakfast food chain, implemented a temporary 50-cent-per-egg surcharge on all of its menus, saying that “consumers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions” as the prices of eggs rise exponentially.
Waffle House said it hopes “these price fluctuations will be short-lived” but that it cannot predict how long this shortage will last. The chain plans to monitor egg prices, and “will adjust or remove the surcharge as market conditions allow.”
Industry experts have also cautioned that higher egg costs will persist into 2025. Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute Sector Manager Kevin Bergquist previously told FOX Business that producers still haven’t been able to rebuild the total egg-laying flock because of the reoccurring outbreaks that have persisted into the new year.
Prior to the large bird flu outbreak in March 2022, flock numbers were at a level that supported lower egg prices, according to Bergquist. He noted the wholesale price was less than $1.50 per dozen.
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