A Waffle House customer and self-proclaimed business owner said she wanted to “bless” her server amid the restaurant’s rising prices.
User @bcolebrenda said she recently visited Waffle House, where she paid $28 for a plate of food. The content creator said she didn’t include eggs and suggested she didn’t do so because the chain recently announced it would charge customers an extra 50 cents per egg ordered.
Given the news, @bcolebrenda said she wanted to treat her server to something special.
“So this is what I did because of the greed,” @bcolebrenda wrote in the video caption of her clip. “No eggs for me, but I did pay the surcharge for 100 eggs [and] blessed the waitress with the money.”
@bcolebrenda then showed a picture of her receipt, which showed that she gave her waitress a $50 tip. As of Sunday, her video showcasing her generous tip had amassed more than 75,000 views.
Why is Waffle House adding an extra charge per egg?
An aggressive strain of avian flu has not only hurt the national egg supply, but it’s also caused the price of eggs to increase. According to CBS News’ price tracker, the cost of one dozen eggs is now 60% higher than in 2024 and 160% higher in 2019.
That led Waffle House to announce earlier this week that it’s adding the extra tax on eggs.
“The continuing egg shortage caused by HPAI (bird flu) has caused a dramatic increase in egg prices. Customers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions,” Waffle House said in a statement to CNN.
The bird flu has been plaguing farmers since at least 2022, but the epidemic increased tenfold in 2024 after the virus reemerged. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 17.2 million egg-laying hens were slaughtered in November and December of this past year.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem as though the price of eggs will go down anytime soon. The price of a dozen eggs could increase by as much as 20% this year, according to the Department of Agriculture’s January food price outlook.
“Not to be the bearer of bad news, but we’re in this for a while. Until we have time without a detection, unfortunately, this very, very tight egg supply is going to continue,” Emily Metz, president and CEO of the American Egg Board, told CNN.
Viewers say customer’s tip was short-sighted
In the comments section of @bcolebrenda’s video, several users noted that while she may have had good intentions, the server might not see their tip if the restaurant forces workers to split or pool tips.
“Your intentions may have been pure, but the waitress won’t see that $50,” the top-liked comment read.
“The waitresses have to split tips anyways,” another pointed out.
“Local management could be super shady, always tip cash and give directly when tipping large,” a third user advised.
Some others questioned how Waffle House’s decision to raise egg prices amounted to “greed.”
“How is it greed to temporarily modify prices to compensate for temporary cost increases?” one person asked.
“Explain where the greed is…?” another echoed.
“Why not pay the surcharge? It goes to the egg producers, not the restaurant,” a third person said.
“Where’s the greed?” a fourth user wondered. “The restaurant has to pay more for eggs. Why shouldn’t they increase their prices to cover it.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @bcolebrenda via TikTok comment and to Waffle House through email.
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