MARYLAND - Egg prices are cracking local restaurants’ budgets as costs continue to rise across the country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts egg prices will climb at least 20% in 2025. In December, the cost of a dozen eggs averaged $4.15, an increase of nearly 37% compared to the same time last year.
At the Delmar Diner, owner Yunus Emre Akilli said the soaring prices are cutting into profits, forcing the business to consider raising menu prices—a move they’d prefer to avoid.
“If it is like that, if it stays like this, we can't handle it, so we have to raise our prices, but we don’t want to,” Akilli said.
Across the street at The Groove Restaurant, which opened last year, rising egg prices are already sparking concerns. Executive Chef Cheyenne Simpler said they may fear being forced to remove popular items from the menu, like deviled eggs.
“I can’t justify a like 20-dollar egg dish,” Simpler said. “That’s something we might have to see go away for a bit.”
Groove owner Doug Marshall noted the challenges of managing inflation, rising electric rates, and more as eggs now become a concern,
“The margins in the restaurant business already are narrow,” Marshall said. “At the end of the day, if you’re making 5 cents on a dollar and you have one of your major menu items increase by 300%, 200%, whatever it is—you have to look at if you’re gonna cut it.”