As the U.S. fights a persistent bird flu outbreak, the cost of eggs has skyrocketed. The owner of a brunch cafe tells us about the impact of high-priced eggs on his business and WSJ’s Patrick Thomas unpacks one possible fix that the egg industry wouldn't consider – until now. Further Reading: - Soaring Egg Prices Reignite Debate Over Bird Flu Vaccinations - At the ‘Wall Street of Eggs,’ Demand Is Surging - First Cows, Now Cats. Is Bird Flu Coming for Humans Next? Further Listening: - Bird Flu and the High Price of Eggs - Farm-to-Table Pioneer on Why We Still Need Better Food Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How are rising egg prices affecting brunch cafes?
At the RVA Cafe in Richmond, Virginia, omelet pans are popping. In the kitchen, Daquan Woodbury is cracking, frying, and whisking eggs. Lots and lots of eggs.
I mean, it's the basis of American breakfast, right? So, I mean, everything comes with eggs, and even things that you don't realize comes with eggs, right? Because you'll say chicken and waffles, and everybody's like, oh, okay, well, you don't really think about eggs in that.
Eggs are also in Dae Kwon's pancake batter, his banana nut muffins. They're in the egg wash, the breakfast sandwiches, the signature scramble. Can you actually list off the things that might contain eggs on your menu?
Our good morning, which is our simple eggs, meat, toast. You have the hangry breakfast. That's a big breakfast that comes with eggs. And then somebody else ordered an omelet. So right there, that's eight eggs on one ticket, right? So it's everything. It doesn't stop.
Put another way, Daquan's Brunch Cafe runs on eggs.
Eggs, eggs, eggs, eggs, and more eggs. Yeah, just on a good, good week, we're cracking at least 3,000 eggs. 3,000 eggs. And maybe up from there.
But in the last few months, Daquan's reliance on eggs has become a grade-A problem for his business. The average cost of a dozen eggs has jumped to historic levels.
Even taking it back to like the beginning of last year, so just a quick 12 months ago, right? You know, I would say our normal case of 15 dozen eggs was generally somewhere around $40-ish.
Right now, at the wholesale suppliers where Daquan usually gets his eggs, he's been quoted prices for the same case that range from $120 to $189.
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