American restaurants are falling victim to a national egg shortage that has already plagued grocery stores from New York City to San Francisco and sent prices to US$7 a carton.
Biscuit Belly, which has 14 locations in six states across the south of the country, has already swapped the type of eggs it buys for cheaper ones. Chief Executive Officer Chad Coulter said he has been able to find large brown eggs for US$55 a case, 21 per cent less than the medium white the company normally favours.
But costs are still are about double what they were a year ago, so the breakfast chain is planning to switch to liquid eggs for dishes such as omelettes, scrambled eggs and batters, he said. It has less wiggle room for other offerings such as sunny side up eggs.
“I tell our managers, when you’re able to get these large brown eggs for US$55, you get as many as you can in your cooler,” Coulter said. “We’re just stocking up whenever we can get them at that specific price.”
Egg prices have broken record after record as bird flu spreads across the country, killing millions of chickens. A dozen large eggs in the Midwest now cost an average of US$7.08 wholesale, about seven times the price just two years ago, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
Some 104 million egg-laying hens have been lost since the outbreak started in 2022, with 29 million killed since October, according farmer group United Egg Producers. That has resulted in shortages at grocery stores at a time when shoppers just keep on buying more.
Drugs such as Ozempic, designed to treat diabetes but widely used for weight loss, are boosting demand for eggs as a source of protein, said Amanda Oren, vice-president of industry strategy for grocery in North America at supply-chain platform RELEX Solutions.
