TheStreet’s Conway Gittens brings you the biggest news of the day, including why Waffle House is increasing the price of each egg ordered and what investors are watching.
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00:00Waffle House has had enough with the sky-high egg prices.
00:04The restaurant chain is now tacking on an egg fee
00:07to any meal that includes an egg dish.
00:09According to signage posted inside the restaurant,
00:12there is now a 50 cent per egg charge in effect.
00:16Egg prices have soared due to shortages
00:18caused by the outbreak of avian flu.
00:21The average price of a dozen large grade A eggs
00:24cost $4.15 in December,
00:26according to the Consumer Price Index.
00:29The average retail price for a dozen eggs
00:31was $2.99 from January to September 2024,
00:35and that was already a 7% jump from 2023,
00:39according to the American Farm Bureau Federation
00:41and Industry Trade Group.
00:43With prices like those, Waffle House,
00:45which is famous for its low-cost meals,
00:48told CNN it had no other choice but to add the surcharge,
00:51but it is, quote, continuously monitoring egg prices
00:55and will adjust or remove the surcharge
00:58as market conditions allow.
01:00Experts expect the egg shortage to continue this year.
01:03Bird flu has been wreaking havoc
01:05on the farming industry since 2022.
01:07The American Farm Bureau Federation says 108 million birds
01:10have been killed since then,
01:12with 75 million of those being egg-laying birds.
01:16And the outbreak has picked up in recent months,
01:18with 17 million birds put down
01:20in just November and December of 2024.
01:23Waffle House is on the front lines
01:25of this supply disruption.
01:26It serves 272 million eggs per year
01:30across its 2,100 locations.
01:33Turning to markets this Tuesday,
01:34stocks are once again swayed by tariff news.
01:37U.S. tariffs against Canada and Mexico are temporarily halted
01:41but an additional 10% tariff against Chinese goods
01:44are in effect.
01:45China has responded with levies on U.S. goods in retaliation.
01:50That'll do it for your daily briefing.
01:51From New York City, I'm Conway Gittins with The Street.