PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Chicken wing consumption is at an all-time high this weekend, according to experts who say the Super Bowl is helping fuel a fire that's been growing since the start of the pandemic. Many believe a record amount of wings will be eaten Sunday evening.
Nako Rafalidis, with Not Just Wings in Delaware County, said their 2020 Super Bowl weekend wing sales were through the roof.
"Last year, we sold 20,000 wings within a matter of six hours," he said.
Like many other local wing joints, he expects this year to be even bigger, with at least 40,000 wings pre-ordered.
The National Chicken Council's Tom Super said the trend is on par with restaurant wing sales. In an industry that's seen an 11% decline in traffic, sales of wings are up 7%, and for the big game, they're up 2% over last year.
"We've seen wing sales and wing consumption skyrocket, and that peaks every year right ahead of the Super Bowl," he said.
Those wing sales have forced people like Rafalidis to take extreme measures to fulfill their orders.
"At certain points the only options you have is to buy frozen or to buy fresh from outside of the state," he explained. "You end up doing a lot of travel. Sometimes we have to drive all the way up to New York to pick up 40 case boxes of wings fresh."
Super said while they don't believe there is a wing shortage, you need to act fast if you want some for Sunday's game.
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"It's true the wing market is tight right now and wholesale prices are a little high, but there won't be a shortage," he said. "I just wouldn't wait until the last minute to order your wings."
According to Super, Americans are expected to eat a record 1.42 billion wings for the big game. That means, assuming Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid can eat three wings per minute, it would take him more than 900 years to eat that many wings.
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