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Winning! Waffle House Drops Egg Surcharge

Press RoomBy No Comments5 Mins Read

Waffle House announced it has dropped the 50 cent per egg surcharge the restaurant chain added in February as egg prices soared after mismanagement of the avian flu by the outgoing Biden administration in 2024 led to a shortage of eggs.

The news media, which downplayed sky high inflation under the Biden administration, suddenly couldn’t stop talking about the price of eggs as soon as President Donald Trump was sworn into office on January 20. It took just a few months for Trump to fix Biden’s blunder.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins released an update last week (excerpt):

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins today provided an update on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s comprehensive, five-pronged strategy announced in February to combat Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). After reaching a record high due to the Biden Administration’s lack of action, wholesale egg prices have now dropped 64%, with retail prices falling 27% from their peak earlier this year. We must remain diligent, and egg farmers and producers can continue to utilize USDA resources to conduct biosecurity assessments before the Fall.

“When President Trump entered office, the cost of eggs was at a record high, seriously denting consumers’ wallets after years of awful inflation. On my first day as Secretary, we got to work to implement a five-pronged strategy to improve biosecurity on the farm and lower egg prices on grocery store shelves. The plan has worked, and families are seeing relief with egg prices driving food deflation in the April Consumer Price Index,” said Secretary Rollins. “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.”

Excerpt from an NPR report on the improving egg supply:

The spike in egg prices was a challenge for Waffle House, which serves about 272 million eggs in a typical year. The Georgia-based chain operates more than 2,000 restaurants, and its 24-hour diners are such a fixture in the southeast that FEMA uses an informal “Waffle House Index” to measure hurricane damage.

The temporary egg surcharge was its own sort of misery index as the nation vented its frustration with runaway food prices. Other breakfast chains like Denny’s also added surcharges when eggs were in short supply.

…The American Egg Board, which represents farmers, notes that rebuilding the nation’s egg supply will take time. As of June 1, there were about 285 million egg-laying hens in the country. That’s down more than 6% from a year ago, and down nearly 13% from early 2022, before the avian flu outbreak began.

“The good news for egg lovers is that ongoing recovery efforts by egg farmers, support from USDA, and a decrease in new cases of bird flu have provided stability in both egg prices and supply,” the board said in a statement. “Further, demand for eggs typically falls after Easter and into the summer months, which has made more eggs available at retail and grocery stores.”

In a post on X on Tuesday, Waffle House said the surcharge was dropped a month ago on June 2, “Egg-cellent news…as of June 2, the egg surcharge is officially off the menu. Thanks for understanding!”

Waffle House press release issued February 3:

If you went to your local Waffle House, your menu looked like this:

The haters blamed President Trump, of course:

Last word goes to the White House:



Read the full article here

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