Restaurants add surcharge amid price hike for eggs

You might notice an extra fee the next time you grab breakfast at a restaurant.

Some local spots and a national chain are adding a surcharge, and they blame the quickly rising price of eggs.

For diners at Rodd’s Restaurant in Bristol, there’s a new surcharge: 50 cents per egg.

“I don't want to hurt the community or hurt my customers that have been with you for so long, but I also don't want to go out of business,” Gina Pellrine, Rodd’s Restaurant owner, said.

They go through thousands of eggs a week and have watched the price skyrocket.

In a note to customers, they wrote in part, with a little humor:

“After 37 years in business, we’ve never seen such crazy price hikes and our brains are scrambled over it.”

“Eggs aren't fluctuating. They're just rising. You're not leveling off. You know what I paid last year? 30, 40 bucks a case. I'm paying two hundred and something for a case,” Pellrine said.

We checked out the area to see what regular grocery store shoppers are paying for the lowest price for a dozen.

It was $6.99 at both Stop & Shop and ShopRite. Walmart was $5.46, but the shelves were bare.

“I remember a few months ago, I bought eggs and they were about $4, $3. You know, it's a big upgrade from what it used to be,” Justine Carasone, of Terryville, said.

Experts point out the surge comes amid the bird flu and the reduction of millions of hens.

While some worry egg prices might keep increasing, we asked an accounting professor at the University of New Haven about what he thinks the rest of the year might look like.

“It's hard to say, I'm hoping it's peaked. We hope. I hope more supply comes on. I hope fuel costs go down. You've always hope for a lot of things,” James Mohs, University of New Haven, said.

The owner at Rodd’s said they hope to take away the surcharge as soon as possible.

And besides other local restaurants, the national chain Waffle House also announced this week a 50-cent egg surcharge.