Superbowl Chicken Wing Shortage rocks Tampa Bay

What’s the Superbowl without Hot Wings? What will we eat if not for those delicious portions of bones covered in scant slivers of meat and a fried fatty skin, dipped in Franks, or your other favorite sauce? What will we do!?!?

Tampa Bay’s 10 News covers the story:

http://www.tampabays10.com/sports/story.aspx?storyid=99068&catid=199

South Tampa, Florida — What is a football game without wings?!

For most fans, chicken wings and football games go hand in hand. That’s why word of a shortage is causing concern around the nation.

“The recession made a major chicken producer based out of Texas went bankrupt and shut down,” said restaurant owner Mike Disser.

Disser owns Wings Gone Wild on Bay to Bay Boulevard in South Tampa. He said fortunately he gets his wings from a chicken producer out of South Carolina. Not all restaurants are that lucky and the customer could end up paying the price.

“This shortage has prices going up nearly fifty-percent,” said Disser.

It turns out the timing of this shortage is better than you would think because restaurants almost always brace for a shortage this time of year. “There is such a high demand for wings for the Super Bowl that we always factor in a possible shortage,” said Disser.

Any shortage causes costs to climb. “Our shipment we got several weeks ago cost $45 a box. In the latest shipment, that cost went up to $70 a box,” said Disser. He will not pass that extra cost on to the customer though. “We’re just going to eat the cost or else we won’t sell any.”

So, at Wings Gone Wild, they will not run out of wings or fun.

“We’ve got parties planned all week here. In fact, we’ll basically be the headquarters for the Cardinals. The cheerleaders will be here closer to the weekend. So, come on down!”

Luckily, I eat wings an average of 2-3 times per week, so missing this one day won’t affect me in the slightest.

I, for one, will do Nachos. Sure, it’s not as much fun as racking up a huge pile of bones to celebrate your expanding waistline or your impending heartburn, but today it will have to do.

Uncategorized chicken wings, superbowl