‘There’s nothing hospitable about that’
The yolks on them.
Cracker Barrel promised customers they won’t have to pay extra for omelettes — egging on rival Waffle House for its recent price hike.
“A surcharge on eggs? Well, there’s nothing hospitable about that,” the Southern-themed restaurant and gift store chain told The Post.
“At Cracker Barrel, country hospitality is as important to us as a hearty breakfast – and that means not charging extra for eggs.”
The company scrambled its Georgia-based competitor’s logic with its no egg upcharge, and also announced rewards program members would receive double “pegs” on all egg dishes through Wednesday.
“We know our guests already have a lot on their plates, so we’ll just stay focused on serving up plates of delicious food at incredible value,” Cracker Barrel said.
The pledge came on the heels of Waffle House’s announcement Monday that it was implementing a targeted, 50-cent surcharge per egg at its roughly 2,100 locations across 25 states.
“While we hope these price fluctuations will be short-lived, we cannot predict how long this shortage will last,” the company previously said.
“We are continuously monitoring egg prices and will adjust or remove the surcharge as market conditions allow.”
With the eggs-tra fee, Waffle House’s two egg breakfast with a side of bacon, which also comes with a biscuit and hash browns, now fetches a whopping $11.85. Meanwhile, Cracker Barrel’s Old Old Timer’s Breakfast, which comes with two eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy, and a hash brown casserole, runs a svelte $9.99.
The egg-flation ruffling feathers is largely being driven by the bird flu outbreak, which has ravaged the poultry industry causing shortages in the supply chain.
Farmers have been forced to slaughter millions of chickens every month — since the disease started to spread in January 2022 — as a precautionary measure.
In turn, the cost for a dozen eggs reached a shell-shocking national average of $4.15 in December, up from just $2.51 in December 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
And the US Department of Agriculture warned egg prices were expected to skyrocket even further, predicting a jump of at least 20% this year compared to the mere 2.2% increase for food prices overall.
Bodega and deli managers in the Big Apple have similarly bemoaned weighing whether to jack up their prices on the ever-popular breakfast staple, the bacon, egg and cheese sandwich, anywhere from 50 cents to $1.
And at grocery stores where eagle-eyed customers have spotted bargain deals on eggs, management has begun to implement limits on how many cartons customers can buy, including at the Whole Foods’ Bryant Park location in Manhattan.
The surging prices, meanwhile, is likely motivating fowl thieves, like the crooks who Pennsylvania state police say poached 100,000 organic eggs valued at roughly $40,000 last week from Pete & Gerry’s Organics LLC.
Waffle House did not respond to The Post’s request for comment about Cracker Barrel’s campaign.
