As the largest bird flu outbreak in a decade continues to send egg prices to all-time highs across the U.S., Denny's customers could soon have to pay more for their breakfast.
The South Carolina-based restaurant chain is the latest to announce it is placing a surcharge on meals that include eggs, according to NBC News, amid a nationwide shortage caused primarily by the avian flu outbreak across U.S. farms.
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"Denny's remains committed to providing our guests with delicious meals they love at the value they expect," Denny's said in a statement obtained by NBC. "We do our best to plan ahead with our vendors on items like eggs to minimize the impact market volatility has on our costs and menu pricing."
Denny's did not elaborate on how much more customers could have to pay for meals with eggs, describing it as a "fluid situation" to the outlet. The company also said individual restaurants and markets will be responsible for deciding what the surcharge price will be.
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The move follows similar actions taken by other popular restaurant chains like Waffle House, which announced earlier this month it was placing a 50 cent surcharge on every egg sold at its 2,000 U.S. locations to offset the rising costs.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicted last month that egg prices will increase by more than 20% this year because of the bird flu outbreak, while grocery prices overall are expected to increase by about 2%.
The average price for a dozen of eggs in the U.S. is currently more than $8, according to most recent USDA data.
