Bird flu is causing egg prices to soar, costing restaurants more, especially those that focus on brunch. Some restaurant owners say they are already raising prices.

Photos of bare grocery refrigerator cases and tales of egg prices gone wild have been rampant on social media this winter. The scenes aren’t manufactured drama. The U.S. Department of Agriculture noted last week that some grocery stores have been limiting the number of cartons customers can buy and hanging signs announcing shortages where cartons of eggs would normally be stacked.

Egg prices at the grocery store may climb to fresh record highs after a recent spike in the number of bird-flu cases in late 2024 led to a significant drop in t