Amid wing shortage, chicken chain Wingstop launches new chicken thigh meals menu
Wingstop is known for its wings. So what happens when prices for the popular menu item surge amid a national wing shortage? They hawk thighs instead.
Wingstop, which locations in Roseville and Brooklyn Center, launched a new online brand called Thighstop this week. The goal is to get customers – who are both familiar and quite satisfied with wings – to give chicken thighs a chance.
A bevy of thigh packs, meals and combos are now available for pick-up at Wingstop location, or via DoorDash delivery. You can check out the menu at Thighstop.com.
Thighstop is offering regular bone-in thighs, as well as a boneless option, with all 11 of the chain's well-known flavor options available.
Economics are driving this thigh shift. As Wingstop CEO Charlie Morrison told CNN Business, the wholesale price of wings one year ago was 98 cents a pound. It's skyrocketed to $3.22 now.
Chicken thighs, he said, are about half the price.
But are they good? Here's Dennis Lee for The Takeout, on why people should give thighs a chance:
"While they may not have the same generous skin to meat ratio as a wing, thighs reward you with tender, juicy, and rich meat that’s usually pretty hard to overcook. In my mind, wings are better for a snack or as an option on a table full of finger food, while thighs position themselves as more of a meal."
Menu prices for thigh and wing meals from Thigh/Wingstop seem comparable. A bone-in thighs meal for two is $17.99, and comes with eight crispy chicken thighs (you pick two flavors), large fries and two dips.
The 15-piece chicken wing meal for two on the regular Wingstop menu is $22.59 for the classic, bone-in wing, and comes with 15 wings (you pick two flavors), large fries or veggie sticks, two dips and two 20-ounce drinks.
