Could bird flu and Donald Trump be the death of the cheap breakfast?
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The Waffle House proposition is pretty simple: It’s a 24/7, 365-day restaurant chain that makes the bulk of its profits by serving low-cost food to as many people as possible. Every year, it sells 85 million strips of bacon, 58 million cups of coffee, 272 million eggs, 153 million hash browns, and 124 million waffles nationally, all while staying affordable. Waffle House’s low prices are made possible by its no-frills dining experience. Each Waffle House has the same floor plan, which is designed for customer contact and efficiency. Rather than chasing trends, Waffle House relies on a sense of nostalgia customers feel upon entering. Another thing that makes a business like this viable is its consistent menu. The chain serves breakfast ’round the clock, which means diners can take advantage of breakfast for dinner and eat waffles and eggs after a late night out. But now, with an aggressive strain of avian flu hurting the national egg supply and causing prices to rise, Waffle House announced Wednesday that it’s adding a 50-cent charge per egg. Cartoon by Clay Bennett “The continuing egg shortage caused by HPAI (bird flu) has caused a dramatic increase in egg prices. Customers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions,” Waffle House said in a statement to CNN. Ahead of the 2024 election, Republicans made inflation and rising food costs a focal point, and voters told pollsters they largely trusted President Donald Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris on lowering prices. But instead of addressing the impacts of the bird flu, Trump is too busy dismantling and defunding the health agencies that could possibly help. According to CBS News’ price tracker, the cost of one dozen eggs is now 60% higher than it was in 2024 and 160% higher than it was in 2019. In some parts of the United States, a dozen eggs can cost as much as $7. That’s partly because the bird flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens per month, and there appears to be no end in sight. Even though the Trump administration could offer a hand to federal health agencies, his lackeys appear more focused on blaming skyrocketing prices on former President Joe Biden. During her first press conference in late January, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the former administration “directed the mass killing of more than 100 million chickens, which has led to a lack of chicken supply in this country, therefore a lack of egg supply, which is leading to the shortage.” But that’s only half of the story, as Poynter noted. The process of culling chickens is a long-standing one that was in place during Trump’s first term. Because bird flu is fatal, it requires the government to cull entire flocks once the virus has been detected. And while the bird flu has been plaguing farmers and the egg supply since 2022, the outbreak increased tenfold in 2024 due to the virus’s resurgence. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 17.2 million egg-laying hens were slaughtered in November and December 2024, accounting for nearly half of all birds killed that year. As of December, the average price per one dozen eggs was $4.15. While that’s not quite as high as the 2022 average, which was $4.22, prices could increase by as much as 20% this year, according to the Department of Agriculture’s January food price outlook. “Not to be the bearer of bad news, but we’re in this for a while. Until we have time without a detection, unfortunately, this very, very tight egg supply is going to continue,” Emily Metz, president and CEO of the American Egg Board, told CNN. If only Trump weren’t so busy instigating trade wars, maybe he’d have time to fulfill one of his actual campaign promises: lowering the cost of groceries. Campaign Action
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/5/2301390/-Could-bird-flu-and-Donald-Trump-be-the-death-of-the-cheap-breakfast?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=main
The Waffle House proposition is pretty simple: It’s a 24/7, 365-day restaurant chain that makes the bulk of its profits by serving low-cost food to as many people as possible. Every year, it sells 85 million strips of bacon, 58 million cups of coffee, 272 million eggs, 153 million hash browns, and 124 million waffles nationally, all while staying affordable. Waffle House’s low prices are made possible by its no-frills dining experience. Each Waffle House has the same floor plan, which is designed for customer contact and efficiency. Rather than chasing trends, Waffle House relies on a sense of nostalgia customers feel upon entering. Another thing that makes a business like this viable is its consistent menu. The chain serves breakfast ’round the clock, which means diners can take advantage of breakfast for dinner and eat waffles and eggs after a late night out. But now, with an aggressive strain of avian flu hurting the national egg supply and causing prices to rise, Waffle House announced Wednesday that it’s adding a 50-cent charge per egg. Cartoon by Clay Bennett “The continuing egg shortage caused by HPAI (bird flu) has caused a dramatic increase in egg prices. Customers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions,” Waffle House said in a statement to CNN. Ahead of the 2024 election, Republicans made inflation and rising food costs a focal point, and voters told pollsters they largely trusted President Donald Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris on lowering prices. But instead of addressing the impacts of the bird flu, Trump is too busy dismantling and defunding the health agencies that could possibly help. According to CBS News’ price tracker, the cost of one dozen eggs is now 60% higher than it was in 2024 and 160% higher than it was in 2019. In some parts of the United States, a dozen eggs can cost as much as $7. That’s partly because the bird flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens per month, and there appears to be no end in sight. Even though the Trump administration could offer a hand to federal health agencies, his lackeys appear more focused on blaming skyrocketing prices on former President Joe Biden. During her first press conference in late January, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the former administration “directed the mass killing of more than 100 million chickens, which has led to a lack of chicken supply in this country, therefore a lack of egg supply, which is leading to the shortage.” But that’s only half of the story, as Poynter noted. The process of culling chickens is a long-standing one that was in place during Trump’s first term. Because bird flu is fatal, it requires the government to cull entire flocks once the virus has been detected. And while the bird flu has been plaguing farmers and the egg supply since 2022, the outbreak increased tenfold in 2024 due to the virus’s resurgence. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 17.2 million egg-laying hens were slaughtered in November and December 2024, accounting for nearly half of all birds killed that year. As of December, the average price per one dozen eggs was $4.15. While that’s not quite as high as the 2022 average, which was $4.22, prices could increase by as much as 20% this year, according to the Department of Agriculture’s January food price outlook. “Not to be the bearer of bad news, but we’re in this for a while. Until we have time without a detection, unfortunately, this very, very tight egg supply is going to continue,” Emily Metz, president and CEO of the American Egg Board, told CNN. If only Trump weren’t so busy instigating trade wars, maybe he’d have time to fulfill one of his actual campaign promises: lowering the cost of groceries. Campaign Action
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/5/2301390/-Could-bird-flu-and-Donald-Trump-be-the-death-of-the-cheap-breakfast?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=main