Though some restaurants like Waffle House and Denny’s have made headlines by announcing price hikes for egg dishes, PNW’s food service is holding the line – for now.
“We have contracts with our suppliers, so a lot of our egg prices really have not been that affected, so right now our prices are pretty much staying the same,” said Diane Wisniewski, the university’s food service director. “That may change in the next couple of months. Nobody really knows.”
Bird flu has taken a heavy toll on egg producers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that more than 156 million chickens have died since the current outbreak began in 2022. That number includes more than 20 million egg-laying hens.
The result is widespread egg shortages – and rising prices. The Federal Reserve bank reports that the average price of a dozen eggs more than tripled between January 2021 to January 2025, exceeding $4.95 a dozen. Prices have continued to soar. A recent trip to the grocery store found the average price for a dozen eggs hovering around $7.
Egg prices captured the public’s attention during the lead-up to the presidential election, when candidates made it a campaign issue, and it remains a hot topic. The story intensified last month, when the national restaurant chain Waffle House announced that it was imposing a 50-cent surcharge per egg served at its over 2,100 restaurants across the nation. It was the first national restaurant chain to announce a surcharge on eggs.
Last week, Denny’s followed suit, saying its surcharge on egg-based meals will varry market by market.
“We’re definitely trying to minimize the amount of eggs that we serve just to prepare ourselves in case we do start seeing the prices increase,” said Wisniewski. “We’re trying to think of some different items that we can offer in the cafe for hot breakfast, like pancakes, French toast, sausage and hash browns.”
Off campus, restaurateurs are weighing their options.
Brothers, a Merrillville diner, serves eggs for a multitude of breakfast and lunch food options. Like PNW’s food service, it has not yet been affected by rising prices. But it is getting ready to adapt.
“No changes have been made yet,” said Emmanuel Saitis, the diner’s owner. “But [we] will do so accordingly.”
