The price of wings is changing so much, it’s affecting nearly every place that serves wings, including the self-proclaimed “wing experts” Wingstop.
Wingstop is eyeing a new menu item that they’ve never offered before: chicken thighs.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: how could the wing experts offer anything but the best wings?
It’s simple: the menu change could help the chicken chain squash inconsistent costs related to chicken wing price fluctuations.
This is according to Wingstop’s chairman and CEO Charles Morrison during the company’s Q3 earnings call earlier this week.
According to a report by Bloomberg citing the US Department of Agriculture, the price of wholesale chicken wings in the Northeast is at its highest in the last decade.
“We will continue to find more ways to deliver against our long-term strategy to mitigate volatility and food costs such as the introduction of a new product, bone-in thighs, which is in test in several markets today,” Morrison said on the company’s earnings call.
The thighs are currently being tested in seven locations, according to analysts at Gordon Haskett Research Advisors.
This includes Denver, which is now charging $6.79 for five thighs. To compare, the same store is currently offering 10 bone-in wings for $11.69 and 10 boneless wings for $6.
“We meet every week to just go through and find out what we can do to alleviate some of the pressure,” says Tom Jenkins, director of franchise operations for chicken wing chain, Buffalo Wings and Rings. “And it’s mostly the bone-in chicken wing that’s creating pressure.”
“These things in the past have come and gone. You just kind of
hunker down and weather the storm and move on,” he says. “But this storm seems to be a little stronger and the forecast is a little worse than what we’ve seen in the past.”
The demand now continues to outpace supply for chicken wings in the U.S. and represents an ironic role reversal for the once-cheap piece of chicken.
Previously considered a subpar cut of the bird, wings were often shipped overseas or relegated to the world of stocks and soups. But not anymore.
Wings are big business and one of the most sought-after parts of chicken along with the breast and drumstick.
“It’s kind of a byproduct,” vice president of supply chain at purchasing partner Consolidated Concepts Wade Winters says. “Chicken manufacturers now say a perfect chicken would have eight wings on it. You know,
I wouldn’t put it past them to make it happen.”
By the end of the year, CEO Morrison expects all 1,000-plus stores to move to a system that prices bone-in wings higher than their boneless counterparts.
In a Las Vegas test, the brand realized a “favorable mix shift of customers” moving more toward the cheaper boneless options.
“Split-menu pricing is one way that we’re addressing the significant bone-in wing inflation the market is experiencing,” Morrison told investors. “As we look to the balance of the year, it does not appear as though there are any leading indicators that suggest that bone-in wing prices will decline from their current levels.”
Wingstop’s new bone-in thighs are also being offered at locations in Glendale and Golden, Colorado, and El Paso, Texas.
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