Georgia-based Waffle House has issued a temporary surcharge of 50 cents per egg due to rising prices of eggs nationwide. (Marlon Hyde/WABE)
Darlene McCrory pulls up to an Atlanta Waffle House after working a late shift. She notices a bright yellow and red poster in the window that says, “Temporary Surcharge: 50¢ Per Egg.”
“I’m about to order extra eggs now, so I know I got to pay the extra, what, 50 cents?” she says.
She says the surcharge will not stop her from getting her signature “All-Star Special” that comes with eggs, a waffle and a variety of sides.
“We all love Waffle House, so we can’t really change what’s going on,” she says.
A Waffle House sign lets customers know about a temporary surcharge of 50 cents per egg due to rising prices. (Marlon Hyde/WABE)
The Georgia-based company says that an unprecedented rise in egg prices is forcing this surcharge on its most popular item — one that Waffle House regular Halo Harris may be skipping for a while.
“I saw that on the news this morning. I’m not finna buy eggs. I’m going to get me some grits and sausage to keep it pushing,” Harris says.
Waffle House serves approximately 272 million eggs a year, according to its website.
Sina Golara, a business professor at Georgia State University, says it was a good idea for Waffle House to focus only on raising egg prices.
“This will actually have the effect of pushing customers to order items that don’t have eggs. So it might actually help balance demand a little bit and move pressure out of eggs and onto some other items,” Golara says.
A sticker on a Waffle House menu reminds customers of the 50 cent surcharge per egg that the restaurant chain is imposing to mitigate rising egg prices nationwide. (Marlon Hyde/WABE)
The American Egg Board says 50 million laying hens were lost to bird flu in the past year, while the demand for eggs went up. Golara says the future of egg prices is not yet clear.
“It’s very hard to tell, because a lot of it also depends on the virus progress itself,” he says.
This current bird flu outbreak has been around since 2022 and tends to increase in winter months, Golara adds. As the weather warms and the virus gets weaker, he expects prices could come down again.
But until then, small business owners like Karima Goodman have to decide whether to pass on the cost to customers. She runs Sweet Brown Suga bakery in an Atlanta suburb.
“As a business owner, you have to take the hit on the eggs, especially when eggs make up 90% of the ingredients in the bakery,” she says.
With prices still rising, some grocery stores are running out of eggs; others are limiting the number of eggs people can buy.
Karima Goodman runs Sweet Brown Suga bakery in Gwinnett County. (Marlon Hyde/WABE)
