During the pandemic, the demand for chicken wings soared. At the same time, supply chain constraints increased feed costs, and high demand has driven the prices way up.
One chain decided to get creative with its menu and started selling a lower-cost option: chicken thighs. On Monday, Wingstop launched a virtual brand called “Thighstop,” according to CNN Business. Customers can order from the “Thighstop” menu on their phone, and the order will be filled in a Wingstop location.
“The [wholesale] price of wings a year ago was as low as 98 cents,” per pound, Charlie Morrison, Chairman, and CEO of Wingstop Restaurants Inc., told the outlet. “Today, it’s at $3.22. So it’s a meaningful difference.”
But thighs are “much less expensive,” he said, coming in at about half of what wings cost per pound today. And for customers, the thighs will cost around the same price as what they are already used to paying.
Thanks to America’s love affair with white meat, thighs might be a tough sell for the chain. Dark meat, including thighs, make up the majority of the nation’s chicken exports. Wingstop had been looking into introducing thighs before the pandemic and understands it’s a tougher sell.
“There’s not a big market for it,” Morrison admits. Thighs “don’t get the appreciation they deserve.”
Morrison predicts that once Americans get a taste of dark meat, they will love it. Moreover, he hopes that it will eventually become a fan favorite “for a long time to come.”
