Chicken Wing Prices Halved Ahead Of NFL Season

Chicken wings could return to the tables of restaurants and bars for the upcoming 2022 NFL season, scheduled to begin on Sept. 8, after substantial price declines might unlock affordability among consumers. 

A combination of a poultry crisis and excessive demand during the early days of the virus pandemic ignited chicken wing prices that more than doubled. Prices jumped so much that consumers of the once inexpensive and beloved snack item for football games shunned it, forcing restaurants like Wingstop to switch to cheaper alternatives of the bird, including thighs. 

Now, “the weakest part of the bird has been the wings, which is very interesting because last year wings were really the highlight,” Fabio Sandri, CEO of Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., one of the largest US chicken producers, told investors on an earnings call Thursday. 

USDA data of wholesale chicken wing prices in the Northeast US have halved from a whopping $3.30 per pound in late 2021 to $1.53 per pound this week. 

The chicken wing market is cooling, just in time for the NFL Kickoff Game, about 40 days away. The only question remains if food distributors and restaurants will pass the savings along as they suffer from the highest inflation in decades. 

Besides gasoline, President Biden’s 70-person social media should really start touting ‘chicken wing savings’ in tweets.