Restaurants, diners prepare for pork price jump

UNDATED (NBC) -- Restaurants and diners across the country are preparing for an increase in pork prices and possible shortages.

"You can't run a diner without bacon. People like their ham and eggs, bacon and eggs,” said Dan McConnell, who manages Lester’s Diner.

Dan McConnell is right about his customers. His staff serves up three to four hundred pounds of bacon a week.

Not to mention pork, ham and sausage. But McConnell warns effects of a shortage are not only coming, they're already hitting his breakfast tables.

He points to drought diminishing pig feed across the U.S. and shrinking pig herds in Europe, already porking up his purveyor's prices. What he pays for bacon jumped more than fifty percent just in the last two weeks.

"Any increase like that is significant, and we haven't raised our prices. And it's... we're really feeling the pinch," said McConnell.

"You need the pork for your breakfast. That's, you need that. So, bacon, you need your bacon, ham. Gotta have it,” said customer Cliff Berry.

The pig pressure could force restaurants like McConnell's to charge a surtax for bacon, pork and ham. But it still wouldn't cover the cost, he said. And either way, one faithful customer will still clean his plate.

"Price don't matter at my age. I'm 82 years old, I can have what I want," said Berry.