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CNBC ON DIGG

Buffalo Wing Prices Get Out Of Control

Published: Tuesday, 13 Oct 2009 | 11:07 AM ET

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By: Darren Rovell
CNBC Sports Business Reporter

Buffalo Chicken Wings
Photo By: Rick Audet
Buffalo Chicken Wings
We told you in January about the plight of the chicken wing. The nation’s largest producer of wings filed for bankruptcy and the demand of the playoffs and the Super Bowl just drove prices through the roof, or so we thought.

Well, today the New York Times has this most amazing statistic: “In seven of the last 11 months, wholesale wing prices have been higher than breast prices.”

The reason this happened is simple. The wing just became too popular. It started with the wing specific places like Buffalo Wild Wings [BWLD Loading... () ] and continued to grow to places like KFC [YUM Loading... () ]. Now it’s seemingly offered at every pizza place.

Pizza Hut’s [YUM Loading... () ] WingStreet is available at 2,900 stores and expanding and it’s not just your standard wing sauce – they offer eight different varieties. Since 2003, the pizza chain says they’ve sold more than 1 billion wings.

How crazy has it gotten? Earlier this week, 7-Eleven announced that they were getting into chicken wings.

Wings have been a good add on to menus, but at some point - and I have to think it’s pretty close - the model is going to start cracking and places will have to abandon the wing. Or at least, as the New York Times suggests, go boneless.

Questions? Comments?

Sectors:Food and Beverage

Companies:Buffalo Wild Wings Inc | Yum! Brands Inc