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Our UK readers may not be familiar with Waffle House, but the American 24-hour greasy-spoon breakfast chain has become a bit of a bellwether for crisis over the past 15 years.
An ex-FEMA Administrator rather famously used the chain’s operations to gauge the severity of storm fallout. A limited menu meant damage was bad, and a closure meant it was very bad. This got lots of press in 2011, which were simpler times for economics writers and FEMA administrators alike.
It turns out that Waffle House’s menu isn’t immune from bird flu, either.
The company has added a 50-cent egg surcharge on all of its menus, according to a statement this week. That’s 50 cents per egg, which is notable given the types of meals it serves. (Go ahead, take a second to snicker at America’s obesity problem, just to get it out of our system.)
WaHo’s egg breakfast has the choice of two eggs, which now comes with a $1 surcharge for a less-than-$10 meal, or three eggs, which would be $1.50 in surcharges.
The price of eggs was a political problem for the Biden Administration after a 2022 surge of avian flu cases led to widespread culls and egg shortages. And egg prices have climbed again over the past year, as avian flu once again spreads among wild birds and commercial flocks in the US.
WaHo didn’t introduce the egg surcharge in 2022, though.
For now, we will simply be grateful that this new indicator falls within the purview of the CEA, and not, say, the CDC.
