The “dramatic increase in egg prices” is stemming from an egg shortage caused by bird flu, Waffle House said in a statement to CNN.
“Customers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions,” the statement said.
According to the restaurant’s website, Waffle House serves 272 million eggs each year with more than a dozen family-operated farms supplying the restaurants with eggs.
Rose Acre Farms in Indiana supplies more than half of the eggs consumed at Waffle House.
The average price of a dozen eggs hit $4.15 in December 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In December 2023, a dozen of eggs cost $2.51.
Waffle House told CNN that it’s “continuously monitoring egg prices and will adjust or remove the surcharge as market conditions allow.”
Ohio leads the nation in recent bird flu cases among commercial poultry operations, with more than 4.1 million chickens and turkeys affected so far this year.
All of the state’s confirmed cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza tracked by the U.S. Department of Agriculture this year have involved commercial flocks at 16 facilities in Darke and Mercer counties, according to data reported Jan. 24.
“Poultry certainly is a big part of the agricultural industry in Darke County,” said Caden Buschur, agriculture and natural resources educator for Ohio State University Extension’s Darke County office. “It’s certainly having a tremendous impact on the area.”
In Darke County, there have been nearly 1.5 million cases reported since Jan. 9 involving nearly 700,000 egg-laying chickens, nearly 740,000 pullets — or chickens less than a year — and more than 57,000 turkeys. In December, there were HPAI cases at four facilities in the county involving more than 1.4 million egg layers and more than 48,000 turkeys, according to the USDA.
All of the cases in Mercer County have been reported since Jan. 14 and have involved more than 2.9 million layers and more than 26,000 turkeys.
In all cases, the premises were quarantined and depopulated, meaning the birds were killed, to help prevent the spread of disease.
Ohio is the second-largest egg producing state, behind Iowa. In 2023, Ohio produced more than 11 billion eggs.
Staff Writer Jen Balduf contributed to this report.
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