Many Huntsville diners raise prices to address increased egg costs

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - Breakfast restaurants and diners are facing some egg-scrutiating cost as the rising price of eggs is hitting local Huntsville restaurants hard.

Egg prices shot up by nearly 60%, and some people are shelling out more than $8 for a dozen of eggs.

As the saying goes, you have to crack a lot of eggs to make an omelet and diners have to serve many omelets and other egg dishes. Managers at the Metro Diner in Huntsville say almost half of their orders are egg dishes, like scrambles, benedicts and sandwiches.

They have to buy eggs by the case. Those costs have definitely increased as well. Some managers say their costs for eggs more than tripled in the last few months.

“We have had price increases before but not as drastic basically because we raised the pot roast and the meat kind of stuff but not for egg plates generally,” says Metro Diner’s Katherine Haynes.

In some businesses, the costs spilled over onto the consumer. Restaurants like Metro Diner and Blue Plate Café slightly increased their prices.

“Eggs are really where we make our money at so with egg prices going up it really affected us with our budgeting,” explains Metro Diner Assistant Kitchen Manager Sandy Bigham.

Some restaurants are able to keep prices the same.

A manager at Another Broken Egg says the massive restaurant chain can keep prices the same because they have a contract with an egg distributor that keeps prices stable.

Rolo’s owner Christy Parker says she recently increased menu prices to adjust for inflation, so she couldn’t justify raising them again when her egg costs went up.

She says many of her customers are over 65 years old and live on a fixed income. Parker said she went from paying $30 for an egg crate to approximately $80.

She says, in the meantime, she’s trying to find other ways to keep costs low. Many diner managers say hope is on the horizon because they’re already seeing prices start to fall.

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