Waffle House drops egg surcharge: Does that mean prices are going down?
The diner chain announced on July 1 that its dropping an egg surcharge put in place four months ago, signaling a decline in egg prices from the all-time highs seen earlier this year.
"Egg-cellent news…as of June 2, the egg surcharge is officially off the menu," said the post. "Thanks for understanding!"
USA TODAY reached out to Waffle House to confirm the change.
Why was Waffle House charging extra for eggs?
A 50-cent per egg surcharge was implemented at Waffle House's roughly 2,100 locations across the U.S. in early February to offset higher-than-usual prices resulting from a "continuing egg shortage caused by HPAI (Bird Flu)," the company said at the time.
Waffle House serves around 272 million eggs per year, according to its website, well surpassing even its titular waffles, of which it sells just 124 million. The temporary charge was employed to avoid increasing prices across other menu items, it said.
Are egg prices are down?
Egg prices reached a high of roughly $6.22 per dozen on average in March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The stage for this uptick was set when the current bird flu outbreak began in the U.S. in 2022 and the highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, killed off egg-laying poultry en masse, leaving fewer chickens behind to maintain the supply.
By Feb. 3, when Waffle House implemented its surcharge, the virus had infected roughly 150 million poultry across all 50 states since January 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Because of the spread, infected birds have been selectively slaughtered across the U.S., including sometimes millions of birds at a single location.
Why are egg prices falling? Here's what we know.
Egg prices have begun to ease from the highs earlier this year, but their overall prices are still 40% higher than last year, according to the May Consumer Price Index.
"Families are seeing relief with egg prices driving food deflation," U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins said in a June 26 statement about the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) response to bird flu. "While we are proud that over 900 biosecurity assessments have been conducted to date, resources remain available, and we are urging poultry farmers of all sizes to get your assessments done today before a potentially challenging fall.'
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