Denny’s slaps surcharge on eggs as bird flu drives up prices

Denny’s will temporarily add surcharges to meals that contain eggs as Americans contend with a shortage of the staple food item, the restaurant chain said Monday.

The South Carolina-based company said the size of the surcharge will vary across its approximately 1,500 locations. It marks the latest shift for consumers and businesses alike as they grapple with the bird flu’s effects on egg availability and costs.

“Due to the nationwide egg shortage and increased cost of eggs, some of our restaurant locations will need to temporarily add a surcharge to every meal that incudes eggs,” the company said in a statement. “This pricing decision is market-by-market, and restaurant-by-restaurant due to the regional impacts of the egg shortage.”

Denny’s said it would not share which specific regions or locations would see surcharges due to the situation being “fluid.”

The bird flu has resulted in the death of millions of hens, which has led to a shortage of eggs on grocery store shelves and for restaurants across the country. With supply depleted, wholesale egg prices have reached new records.

In its weekly crop report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday characterized wholesale egg prices as “firm to higher with a higher undertone” and supply as “very light to light with little chance of improvement in the near-term” due to bird flu.

Prices for white eggs rose to $8.07 per dozen last week, an increase of 33 cents or 4.7%. Inventories fell 2% overall and were off 3.5% for cage-free products and 12.5% for nutritionally enhanced eggs.

Denny’s is not the only restaurant to lay price hikes on consumers as a result. Waffle House opted to institute a surcharge of 50 cents per egg earlier this month.

Grocery store chains ranging from Trader Joe’s to Walmart, meanwhile, have placed limits on the number of eggs that can be purchased by shoppers.

Bloomberg News was first to report the Denny’s surcharge.

— CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this report.