High egg prices hit restaurants

We've got two basic ingredients on our mind this week: butter and eggs, both for different reasons.

Bird flu has sent the price of eggs skyrocketing. It’s gotten so bad that thieves stole 100,000 eggs from a distribution trailer in Pennsylvania, and restaurants are having to rethink egg-centric dishes. Butter is also generating its own buzz, but in an entirely different way. We're taking a look at how everyone's favorite spread is stealing the show in New York City restaurants as a fluffy, Instagrammable centerpiece. (We're not talking about butter sculptures today, although those are cool, too.)

On the menu:

💠 To upcharge or not to upcharge?
💠 Demand for Uber Eats grows
💠 AI booked that reservation
💠 Immigration raids: What's real?

What we’re debating: What do you upcharge for? The Restaurant Punk crew discusses the economics and absurdity of charging for "extras" like dip and even tap water.

What we’re keeping an eye on: The effects of immigration raid threats, including communities fearful of dining out and a TikTok-trending raid that a restaurant says never happened.

What's got us intrigued: Open AI’s latest product, “Operator,” which snagged a restaurant reservation on OpenTable.

We’re asking: What’s the fairest way to cut staff on slow days?

Plus: Demand for Uber Eats is growing, the company reported, and its latest satirical Super Bowl commercial, starring Matthew McConaughey, is sure to put Uber Eats on even more consumers' radar.

Evaluating and adjusting for egg prices 

With the most significant bird flu outbreak in a decade sending egg prices soaring, restaurants across the country are worried about their egg supplies and taking measures to counteract the shortage. Case in point: Waffle House made headlines last week by adding a 50-cent surcharge per egg. But independent restaurants and their consumers are being impacted as well, Eater reports. At Chicago’s Daisies, pasta dishes are being simplified, such as lasagna dishes with less noodle layers and more vegetables, to counteract the rising prices of eggs. At Brooklyn's all-day cafe Ursula, the breakfast burrito now costs 50 cents more, and Breadbelly in San Francisco just 86ed its famous riff on Vietnamese egg coffee.

Other restaurants, such as Milwaukee’s Uncle Wolfie’s Breakfast Tavern and Brooklyn’s Little Egg, are opting for a more sustainable approach. Both restaurants source eggs from smaller farms, which generally offer more relatively stable prices. Unlike tightly packed industrial farms, which can be breeding grounds for bird flu, smaller farms tend to give their chickens a bit more space. Whatever solution operators opt for, it looks like we’ll be in this price predicament for a while. The American Egg Board predicts record-high egg prices for the rest of the year. (Eater)

NYC restaurants use butter as shareable element

Andrea Strong is marveling at the growing trend of elaborate butter presentations in NYC restaurants over on her Substack, The Strong Buzz. Restaurants like Third Falcon and Foul Witch use butter as a centerpiece and even place literal mounds of butter on display in their restaurants. And for good reason. Keeping butter out of the refrigerator brings it to a perfect spreadable temperature.

And these mounds of butter are great marketing tools for the restaurant's bread and butter service. "We keep it on the pass in the nicest bowl we have, both to show off and also so it stays at a nice temp for spreading," says Sam Pollheimer, executive chef Foul Witch, which makes their own butter. Most tables order the restaurant's butter and housemade sourdough sesame focaccia. "We definitely get a lot of people taking a sneaky photo of the butter for the gram." It's safe to say, butter is having a moment. (The Strong Buzz) 

NYC's Foul Witch uses butter as a shareable item on its tables (Courtesy of @thefoulwitch on Instagram)

65

Percent of 973 restaurant managers who describe the current labor market as "tight" or "very tight"

(7Shifts 2025 Restaurant Workforce Report)

💠 Big red wines are in. Chilled red wines are out

💠 A restaurant dedicated to soccer fans opens in Dallas 

💠 The brothers behind an iconic Seattle restaurant are on the outs

"The concept of access, special access, is not new. It’s just different today."

-Pablo Rivero, CEO of Rey, talking about VIP and rewards perks for restaurant-goers 

(🎧The Simmer)

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