American consumers are experiencing egg prices such as they’ve never seen before. It’s the result of a combination of factors including shortages due to the avian flu crisis. Now, one big egg user is passing-on cost increases to consumers…
One of my all-time favourite breakfast joints is Waffle House. And I’m not alone in that preference. My late, lamented birth Dad introduced me to the place many years ago, after he started spending his winters in Ft. Myers…
They’re everywhere
Once you get south of the Mason-Dixon line, Waffle Houses start to crop up everywhere. Dad used to drive his own car down to Florida each fall and drive back in the spring. And he chose the motels he’s stay at based on how close the nearest Waffle House was.
I used to go down with him to spell him on the driving. And I looked forward to break with special relish. My go-to was a double order of Hash Browns, ‘scattered, smothered, covered and chunked’ with a sunny-side egg on top. The runny yolk seeping down into the loosely united potato shreds made the whole plate extra-special.
Dad’s been gone for more than 20 years, now. And it’s been a least that long since I’ve had the opportunity to breakfast at a Waffle House. But I still dream of those Hash Browns…
Quirky is the word
The best word to describe Waffle House may be ‘quirky’. The atmosphere is unique, but consistent from location to location. And eating at the counter always feels like getting breakfast at Aunt Dora’s on Saturday morning.
So I hope you’ll forgive me if seem a little peeved that MY breakfast joint is making history in a way most of its patrons probably don’t appreciate. Waffle House is one of America’s biggest egg users serving more than, “272 million eggs per year, making it the chain’s most-ordered item, surpassing hash browns (153 million) and even waffles (124 million),” according to its website.
And it’s become the first restaurant chain to impose a 50-cent per egg ‘surcharge’ on customers, in response to the, “nationwide rise in cost of eggs.”
Honest and transparent
The surcharge may be irritating – even affronting – to fans. But at least it’s an honest and transparent way for Waffle House to deal with the problem of soaring egg prices. After all, eggs have doubled (or more) in price in just a few weeks, since the bird flu outbreak began. Pretty hard to absorb within thin restaurant profit margins or otherwise conceal.
My take
So kudos to Waffle house for approaching the egg price explosion in just the way we would expect: straightforward, simple and no nonsense. A model for others.
It’s like Aunt Dora is saying, “Sorry, but this is the way it is, and we have to do something about it. You can decide for yourself if you want to ‘hold the egg’ for the time being, until this all blows over.”
No hard feelings, Dor…
~ Maggie J.