Egg Shortage Impacts New Hampshire Restaurants

The Avian flu has caused a nationwide egg shortage, driving up prices and impacting businesses.

With more than 49 million birds dead because of the Avian flu, the US Department of Agriculture is saying it's the worst outbreak the nation has ever experienced.

It's causing a nationwide egg shortage, driving up prices, and impacting businesses close to home.

In a corner booth at the Chez-Vachon restaurant in Manchester, New Hampshire, Raymond Martineau of Londonderry is enjoying a rare breakfast date with his daughter, Donna.

"I ordered two eggs and two sausages," Martineau said.

Those eggs are two times more expensive than they were a couple weeks ago, according to Sean Walker who manages the restaurant. He says the Avian Flu outbreak in the midwest is forcing egg prices to skyrocket.

"It was about $1.60 a dozen, now we are close to three dollars a dozen," Walker said.

And even at 500 dozen a week, Walker's customers aren't yet feeling the pinch.

"We are part of the community and we keep that in mind with everything we do, when prices go up we try to hold off on it as long as we possibly can," he said.

There's no egg shortage in New Hampshire, so local egg prices haven't been impacted.

"Local eggs right now are $4.99 and the distributed eggs are at $2.99." said Shea Nealon who owns the Farm and Flower Market in Manchester. He is afraid that price gap will continue to close.

"I was talking to my distributor and he told me not to expect the price to come down for 12 months," Nealon said.

Back inside Chez-Vachon, Walker says he's not sure how long he can eat the extra cost without reprinting the menu, but for now, his customers are happy.

"I appreciate that very much," said Donna. "Especially for my dad."

Even Dunkin Donuts is addressing how the Avian flu is impacting the chain. In a statement released to necn Tuesday, a Dunkin Donuts spokesperson said, "We are continuing to closely monitor the avian influenza outbreak with our supply chain partners. At this stage, there has been no impact upon Dunkin’ Donuts’ current product inventory. Given the situation, we recognize the entire industry will experience supply issues and product price fluctuations as the market responds to these unfortunate circumstances. However, we continue to work with our franchisee-owned distribution and procurement network to ensure we have an adequate supply of eggs for our restaurants and to control costs as much as possible."

Contact Us