Restaurant owners dealing with nationwide chicken wing shortage

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOCO) —  Restaurant owners have been through a lot during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they are now dealing with a chicken wing price increase as things are starting to get back to normal.

“The world wants wings,” Eddie Wren, the owner of Eddie’s Restaurant, said.

That’s Wren’s motto because “we’re selling a lot of chicken wings.”

But he’s noticed that there has been a crazy price hike going on in poultry, specifically bone-in chicken wings.

“If you actually went to Sam’s Club right now for a bag of wings, you’d be like, ‘I’m out.’ Because they are that expensive,” Wren said.

He said he’s never seen such a price increase last so long. Wren told KOCO 5 that it’s due to a shortage in delivery truck drivers and gas prices going up.

“Chicken wings have tripled,” he said.

Wren is known for his wings and his wing specials.

“The pressure comes when you try to discount something and you just can’t,” he said.

He tried to keep the customers fully happy, but he said, “We were losing anywhere between three grand a week on our Wednesday (special), and, finally, we decided to make a call.”

The call was to cut back on the specials and the amount of bone-in wings they are buying.

“We were going through 8,300 wings per week in both locations, and we just cut it in half,” Wren said.

He’s asking customers to be understanding because this is a nationwide issue.