Restaurants are feeling the pain of soaring egg prices, due to the biggest bird flu outbreak in a decade.
Wishbone, near Fulton Market, recently added a surcharge of 75 cents on egg dishes and 50 cents on chicken items to offset skyrocketing costs.
Joel Nickson, Wishbone’s chef and co-owner, added the surcharge on Jan. 25 “knowing this was not going to be a one-month problem.” The restaurant at 161 N. Jefferson St. tries to avoid raising menu prices, but egg costs are the highest he’s seen in 35 years of running Wishbone.
“At first people were making fun of me for doing it,” Nickson said of the surcharge.
Then Monday, the giant Waffle House chain announced a temporary surcharge of 50 cents per egg. Waffle House, based in Georgia, has more than 1,900 locations in 25 states, including a restaurant in Granite City and Collinsville.
The 24-7 restaurant said an egg shortage due to avian flu has dramatically increased costs. Waffle House’s egg surcharge became effective this week and applies to all of its menus. Its two-egg breakfast, which comes with toast and a side, was listed at $7.75 on Tuesday. The company continues to monitor egg prices and said that it will adjust or remove the surcharge as market conditions allow.
Bird flu and sky-high egg prices are the latest challenge for restaurant owners, who have battled inflation, labor shortages and supply chain issues since the pandemic. Now, many are also coping with anxiety and uncertainty due to new policies ordered by President Donald Trump from tariffs to deportations of immigrants.
For the most part, Wishbone customers have been understanding about its surcharge, Nickson said. “They go to the supermarket and pay $5 to $6 for a dozen eggs too.”
Customer favorites such as “Red Eggs” — two eggs on corn tortillas, topped with melted cheddar, cilantro salsa and more — and corn meal pancakes with two eggs normally cost $15 and $14.50, respectively.
A year ago, 15 dozen eggs cost about $31 but now are $105, Nickson said. Eggs are normally an inexpensive protein, but “they’ve turned into filet mignon,” he said.
“I may have to raise prices across the whole menu. I use eggs in everything from our corn muffins, pancakes, crab cakes and more,” Nickson said. And food costs across the board have risen steadily, in addition to spiking egg prices. These are “tricky times,” he said.
The H5N1 bird flu has been spreading widely among wild birds, poultry, cows and other animals. Farmers have been forced to slaughter millions of chickens a month, pushing U.S. egg prices to more than double their cost in the summer of 2023. And it appears there may be no relief in sight with Easter approaching.
The average price per dozen eggs nationwide hit $4.15 in December. That’s not quite as high as the $4.82 record set two years ago, but the Agriculture Department predicts egg prices are going to soar another 20% this year.
Cebu, a Filipino American diner in Lake View, last week temporarily raised prices on brunch items with eggs. The restaurant added $1 to the price of breakfast burritos that normally cost $16 to $18.
“Egg prices have tripled in the past couple of years with the current prices the highest they have ever been,” said Martin Tan, Cebu’s pastry chef and co-owner.
Ani Imeri, owner of Eggsperience Cafe in Lake View, said a box of 15 dozen eggs used to cost $35 but is now about $100. “It’s crazy,” he said.
Imeri isn’t planning to raise prices yet on dishes such as omelets, currently $16 to $17. Marking up Eggsperience menus with a pen wouldn’t look good, he said. But he’s “waiting to see what’s going to happen.”
Chicago breakfast chain Yolk plans to raise prices this month but has not finalized the amount, said Gianluca Pesce, Yolk’s director of marketing. The company has several Chicago locations, including in Wicker Park, Streeterville and South Loop
Yolk is paying about 75% more per case of eggs compared to last year. Its five-egg omelets are currently $21. Pesce said the restaurant is closely monitoring the bird flu outbreak.
Josephine’s Southern Cooking in Chatham hasn’t raised menu prices but expects it may have to. Egg costs are “astronomical” and prices for other food such as chicken wings and salmon have also climbed, Manager Katrena Sampract said.
“We’re learning how to stretch and still give good quality,” Sampract said. “Our community is already deprived. We still have to make a little money but not make it unaffordable for people to come in.”
The South Side institution re-opened in November after a car crashed into the soul food restaurant last summer.
“Re-opening in this economy is really taxing,” Sampract said. “But the community needs us.”