Many people are hoping that the pandemic will end soon, as all adults in the United States are currently covered by the COVID-19 vaccine, but the restaurant industry still feels the economic impact of the pandemic. ..
Over the course of the year, it has become difficult (if not impossible) to find a myriad of items, mainly due to manufacturing chain disruptions.
Toilet paper, serials, disinfectant wipes, appliances, cans, furniture and boats were elusive somewhere, to name a few.
Now I have another item to add to the list: chicken wings.
Connie Richardson, owner of Nuby’s Steakhouse, Illinois, said he hadn’t seen anything like that in his 30-year business.
“We started Hoard about a month ago I’ll deal with a little bit here and there, “she told KTVI. “If you’re out of bone, you have the option of having bone.”
According to the outlet, the restaurant needed to cap the number of traditional chicken wings customers could order during Thursday night’s chicken wings special, sometimes demanding a boneless switch.
Stee Heimsath, who owns EL Flanagan’s, needed to take more drastic steps.
“It’s a predicament. We had to cancel the wing promotion on Wednesday because we weren’t sure if we had wings,” Heimsas told KTVI. “Some vendors distribute who they give their wings to.”
Richard Dickman told WLWT that the price of wings has skyrocketed recently, reaching about 150%. He runs a restaurant in Kentucky called Smoke Justis.
Dickman is one of several restaurant owners and experts who attribute the shortage to labor problems in chicken factories.
“The reason is not necessarily Lack of chickenHowever, there is a shortage of workers in the processing plant, “Dickman told WLWT. “So employment is a problem.”
To make matters worse, the National Chicken Council sells chicken wings. Soaring during a pandemic According to WIVB, it’s very takeaway friendly.
Chicken wings sales increased About 7% last yearThe Associated Press reported, according to the market report.
The National Chicken Council’s Tom Super is hesitant to call the situation short, but says supply is definitely limited.
“The wing supply is tight, but I’m not saying there’s a” shortage, “” said Super, according to KTVI. “Chicken growers are doing everything they can to overcome the devastating effects of Mother Nature when it brings a once-in-a-lifetime winter storm to Texas and its surrounding states, the major chicken-growing regions. doing.”
Prices soared in February 2021 (which is not uncommon around the Super Bowl), but this year they continued to rise, hitting a record $ 2.71 per pound.
“Americans really, really like our wings,” Paul Aho, an international chicken consultant who owns a company called Poultry Perspective, told AP. “Wings tend to be less elastic than other chicken products. If the breast gets too high, people either stop buying it or reduce it. But wings — now wings are important. There is no such thing. I recommend it. “
But other chicken products weren’t a problem.
“There is no shortage Traditional chicken breast, Chicken tenders, such a thing, “Roosters president and CEO Damponton told Dayton Daily News. “Traditional chicken wings, which are actually becoming a national shortage.”
Wing frenzy and supply chain issues are hitting customers’ wallets, as some restaurants are forced to raise prices if they want to keep selling their wings.
Gary Urnoski, General Manager of Windsor Inn, Pennsylvania, Case is $ 60 He spoke to the public about the 240 wings before the pandemic. Currently, cases of the same size run for $ 150.
“You now have to charge more than $ 1 per wing,” he told the newspaper. “The price of the wings has always changed weekly and has fluctuated based on supply and demand and seasons. Now the price is over the roof.”
Urnoski is also having a hard time processing the order. Windsor Inn typically orders 35 cases of wings a week, but last week received only 8 cases.
“We were lucky to get it,” he told the Times. “Some vendors say they limit their customers to one case, to the point where they can’t get them.”
Virginia’s owner of a J & K-style grill, Kelvin Dooly, reported that he was heading to a local restaurant depot with a lack of wing cases to make up for the difference, but even the store restricted purchases. doing.
“We have to scramble,” Dooly told the outlet.
Other restaurant owners say the supply chain has proven strong, especially for medium-sized wings, despite other issues.
“I don’t want to go into too much detail about this. We had 24 stores and everything from Adrian, Michigan to North College Hill in Cincinnati was fine,” Fricker’s USA marketing manager Jim Manley told Daily News. .. “Again, I set this a long time ago. We put this into practice many years ago. Thanks to the providers we have, it’s okay.”
The National Chicken Council’s Tom Super is hesitant to call the situation short, but says supply is definitely limited.
“The wing supply is tight, but I’m not saying there’s a” shortage, “” said Super, according to KTVI. “Chicken growers are doing everything they can to overcome the devastating effects of Mother Nature when it brings a once-in-a-lifetime winter storm to Texas and its surrounding states, the major chicken-growing regions. doing.”
The National Chicken Council supermarket said restaurants and wing fans alike just have to put up with it.
“It takes time and effort to finally replace the affected hatchery supplies,” which was hit hard by the winter storm.
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