Dee-Ann Durbin, Associated Press Business Writer
It’s a chicken and egg issue. The restaurant struggles with record US egg prices, but omelettes, scrambles and Huevos Lancheros may be part of the problem.
Breakfast is booming in American restaurants. First Watch is a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, reaching almost 570 over the past decade. EggsUp Grill has 26-90 Southern restaurants in 2018. Its 100th restaurant last year.
The fast food chain also adds breakfast items. Starbucks, which had an egg bite in 2017, has a breakfast menu featuring 12 separate items, including eggs. Wendy’s 2020 breakfast offers 10 items with eggs.
Review website Yelp said last year, 6,421 breakfast and brunch businesses opened 23% more than 2019 in the US.
During normal times, producers were able to meet all these egg needs. But so far, the ongoing bird flu outbreak, which has forced farms to massacre more than 145 million chickens, turkeys and other birds, has made supplies rare and pushed prices up. It’s there. In January, the average price for US eggs reached a record of $4.95 per dozen.
Compared to other locations such as grocery stores and food makers, the percentage of eggs that go to American restaurants is not publicly disclosed. Restaurant suppliers, US Foods, and Cal-Maine Foods, the largest producer of shell eggs in the United States, did not respond to Associated Press’ requests for comment.
However, demand from restaurants is almost certainly growing. Walking in US restaurants has grown the most since 2019 for morning meals, according to market research firm Circana. The time before lunchtime accounted for 21% of all restaurant visits in 2024.
Breakfast sandwiches are the most popular order during morning visits, Circana said, and 70% of breakfast sandwiches on the US menu contain eggs.
Ricky Richardson, CEO of Grill Eggs, said the breakfast restaurant took off after the co-pandemic as people were craving comfort and connection. As inflation made food more expensive, customers saw breakfast and lunch as a more affordable option for eating out, he said.
According to Brian Earnest, lead economist for animal proteins at Cobank, consumers tried to restock eggs for their homes, but restaurants reversed the pattern that emerged during the pandemic, where fewer restaurants needed.
Since then, changing preferences have created an additional market burden. Americans are increasingly searching for proteins with few ingredients, and eggs fit that bill.
“Consumers think the eggs are really fresh, so if you’re making something with eggs, you know it’s fresh,” Ernest said.
To address animal rights concerns, McDonald’s and some other companies have switched to 100% cage-free eggs, which limits the sources they buy. Ten states, including California and Colorado, have passed laws restricting egg sales to products from Cageless environments.
“It makes the market a lot more complicated than it was 20 years ago,” Ernest said.
Higher prices are attacking restaurants violently. Wholesale egg prices averaged $7.34 per dozen last week nationally, according to the US Department of Agriculture. That was 51% higher than the beginning of the year. Wholesale costs can be higher than retail prices, as grocery stores use eggs as loss leaders to guide customers to the door.
Some chains, like Waffle House, added additional fees to offset the cost of eggs. Others may resort to egg alternatives like tapioca starch or cut egg dishes from the menu, according to Phil Kafarakis, president and CEO of the International FoodService Manufacturers Association.
First Watch president and CEO Chris Tomasso said eggs are important to the chain brand and were found in the majority of their products, whether it’s the center of the plate or the batter’s ingredient. So far, the company has been able to get the eggs it needs and he said they have not gotten an extra charge.
The first clock also has an increased portion size of non-egg items such as meat and potatoes, Tomasso said.
Richardson, a grilled egg, recently met with the franchisee and said they disagreed with the additional charges, but they disagreed.
“Eggs have always been an important part of American diet,” Richardson said.
Original issue: February 13, 2025 10:52am EST
