High egg prices have made brunch items more expensive at Philly restaurants
Middle Child says it is now paying $235 for a case of eggs — more than twice as much as the $95 it paid last year.
Consumers have felt the impact of soaring egg prices at the grocery store, with the average carton costing nearly $6. But over the past month, restaurants in Philadelphia have gone public with their own struggles by increasing the costs of their omelettes and breakfast sandwiches.
Brunch hotspots naturally have been hit hard by the ongoing “eggflation,” a phenomenon spurred by inflation and an outbreak of bird flu. Middle Child announced a $0.50 to $1.50 hike on egg-based dishes at its Center City restaurant and Fishtown “clubhouse” on March 17. Green Eggs Cafe also quietly rolled out a $0.50 surcharge per egg on the menus across its five Philly locations. And way back on Feb. 22, the Kensington coffee shop Càphê Roasters implemented a “slight price increase” on items like its egg coffee, a drink topped with a whipped custard.
Each of them cited the mounting costs of eggs. The average price of a dozen large, grade A eggs hit $5.90 in February, surpassing the record set just one month earlier of $4.95. Though inflation has exacerbated the situation, experts place most of the blame on avian influenza. To prevent the spread of the disease, farmers have slaughtered more than 168 million birds since the outbreak started in 2022. The dwindling population of chickens has strained the supply of eggs. Prices started climbing dramatically during the first year of the bird flu outbreak, peaking at $4.82 in January 2023. Costs fell for the better part of that year, but started inching back up again in early 2024.
Middle Child broke down the math in an Instagram post that explained their decision to increase menu prices. According to the restaurant, it spent $95 on a case of eggs in 2024. It is now paying $235. That translates to an extra $2,280 per week on the 16 cases it typically buys for its two locations — or an added $116,000 per year.
