The hugely popular chicken wing — also America's favorite dish on Super Bowl Sunday — is clearly suffering from an identity crisis.
The classic finger food has long been a restaurant staple, often featured on the appetizer side of menus. But over the years, it has increasingly turned into a main dish. Consider the many wings-centric chains, such as Buffalo Wild Wings and Wingstop WING,
That puts your favorite bird front and center.
And consider the fact that many Americans will simply devour wings as an appetizer no matter how they are labeled on the bill of fare.
That was the case when popular chain Chili's added wings to its menu last year before football season — with the result that customers spent less (or swapped them out) by making wings their meal instead of ordering them as an appetizer. . Recent comments from Kevin Hochman, CEO of Brinker International EAT,
Parent company of Chili's. The chain has continued to offer wings, but no longer displays the item prominently on its menu in an attempt to reverse the trend.
“We have course corrected,” a Brinker spokesperson told MarketWatch.
This issue continues to plague many other restaurants, according to industry analysts and professionals. The bottom line is that no one quite knows what constitutes a wing plate anymore — an appetizer, a main course, or something entirely in its own category.
Ironically, if there is one day on the calendar where these distinctions seem meaningless, it is Super Bowl Sunday. That's when an incredible number of wings are being devoured — 1.45 billion wings are expected to be eaten, according to a pregame estimate from the National Chicken Council — and there's not much thought as to where the item falls on the eating spectrum. It's just game day food.
But during the rest of the year, confusion often reigns.
There are those who insist that wings deserve the entree and can't take a backseat to any other food when it comes to mealtime.
“It's the raison d'être,” said Arthur Bovino, a food writer and podcaster who knows wings from his long time in Buffalo, the city most associated with the dish.
““They are the reason for existence”“
Others say some wings go a long way, and they're fine keeping them in the starting category.
“I don't like to eat whole wings,” says Christy Marquez, vice president of marketing at Das Beer Garden, a sports-oriented restaurant in Jupiter, Fla., that serves this dish naturally.
Marquez added that her establishment takes a grazing approach to dining — meaning there's less distinction between appetizers and main dishes and customers generally order a few things — so the wing conundrum isn't a big deal.
Other restaurant owners say that even if customers order wing entrees as a meal, they don't want to stand in anyone's way.
“My goal is for people to eat what's on their plates. If they feel like having an appetizer as an appetizer, I encourage them to do so,” says Ron Silver, chef and owner of Bubby's, a popular New York City restaurant that serves gourmet smoked wings on wings.
Establishments are also well aware that wings — often a fairly spicy item in this Buffalo-style preparation — set the stage for customers to order more drinks, added Arlene Spiegel, a New York-based restaurant consultant. This is where the money is especially made in the restaurant business.
“The real margins are in the wine,” she said.
The relationship between wings and alcohol speaks to the beginnings of the wing craze in America decades ago. This meant that the dish was neither an appetizer nor an entree, but rather just low-cost bar food. Or what Clark Wolfe, another industry consultant, called, “20y“Peanuts in the horn,” referring to the historic bar item that is given away for free to quench the thirst of patrons.
The server at the Anchor Bar brings out some wings. The suite-centric establishment started out in Buffalo, but now has several franchised locations.
Anchor bar
Specifically, the creation of the Buffalo-style version of wings that has become so popular is often credited to Anchor Bar, a Buffalo, New York institution, which began serving the dish in the 1960s. While there is some debate as to whether others in Buffalo came first, the point is that wings and liquor were inextricably linked.
Eventually, wings moved beyond the bar and became a presence in restaurants, especially as a shareable appetizer. To this day, it is the third most featured entree on menus after salad and soup, according to Datassential, a company that analyzes restaurant trends.
But how and why did the wings cross the line into the meal area?
Some industry insiders and observers say it has a lot to do with the rise of those wing-focused restaurants — Buffalo Wild Wings, the category leader, has been around since 1982. In fact, once some dining establishments made wings their focus, they noted Wings are no longer just a sideshow to the dining experience, and can stand on their own in any restaurant or even when prepared at home.
“This has changed the perception of how people eat wings,” said Chandler Steele, a senior director of innovation at Tyson Foods TSN.
A dominant poultry company that supplies wings to restaurants and also packages wings as a supermarket product.
The Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant chain began in 1982.
Getty Images
Experts say other factors come into play when considering how wings will transition into the appetizer world. Perhaps most important they cite is the rising cost of dining out in this inflation-prone era, as evidenced by US government data indicating that restaurant (or “dining away from home”) prices rose 7.1% in 2023.
Wings are inevitably a cheaper meal than many other menu options. At a Chili's restaurant in suburban New York City, a plate of 10 wings and fries costs $18.89, according to the chain's website. By contrast, a full order of the chain's famous baby ribs with fries and cheese costs $25.59.
And don't forget a generational factor, as younger diners don't always follow the “rules” when it comes to what is considered an appetizer. Or so says Claire Conaghan, associate director of publications at Datassential.
“Whatever they want so bad, they'll build a meal around it,” she said.
Given that restaurants see average checks as fatter, what could happen over time to the condition of the wings? Industry professionals say they anticipate any number of possibilities.
“'Do they have a high return? not necessarily. Do they have a high risk? definitely.'“
Restaurants can package wings with other lower-cost items — like the aforementioned example of a Chili's combo with fries — to at least raise the price by a few dollars and boost margins. Or they could serve the wings in smaller quantities, as a way to more fully signal the status of their appetizer.
Another scenario: They might just de-emphasize wings altogether, especially given that they're an item subject to a lot of supplier price fluctuations — there's inevitably a spike at Super Bowl time due to supply and demand, experts note — and so the margins aren't always great.
“Do they have a high return? Not necessarily. Do they have a high risk? Absolutely,” said Ross Spencer, a senior director at Craftable, a technology company that provides restaurant services.
Yet America's thirst for chicken wings on Super Bowl Day or any other day is such that no one really expects the menu item to disappear any time soon. If anything, there will likely be more diners willing to eat a big meal from them.
That's certainly how David Thomas, a 48-year-old Wings fan who lives in a Chicago suburb, feels about the beloved Birds. It's okay to have a wing or two as a happy hour snack. But when it comes to eating real wings, he needs a plate containing about 10 pieces.
“It's 100% a meal,” he said.
