America is in need of chicken, and apparently there aren't enough birds to go around.
The country is in the midst of a chicken shortage that has greatly reduced the amount of chicken wings in the country, with many suppliers unable to meet the growing demands of the public.
One owner of a chicken wing restaurant in Buffalo, New York says prices have increased by about 99%.
"The chicken wing farms in America, they’re having trouble retaining and recruiting employees," Greg Duell, the co-owner of Duff's Famous Wings told Fox News. "When that happens, they can’t process the birds fast enough, they have to feed them more, the feed costs have gone up, the birds are getting bigger and they can’t process and get them out."
Last month, Joe Sanderson, CEO of Sanderson Farms, said per Fox Business, "We cannot supply enough wings to anybody, at retail or at foodservice."
Sanderson Farms says they plan to "allocate" wings to make sure everyone gets some, though wing prices, at the time, had already risen to $3.16 per pound. The raised prices reflect similar trends in other chicken products, including boneless chicken breast prices climbing 236% since the fall to $2.25 per pound, and the price of tenders rising 77% to $2.43.
Related
Many experts credit the chicken shortage to the reopening of the economy, and many restaurants starting to introduce chicken sandwiches to their menu.
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