Tis the season to be chomping away on platters of chicken wings while watching football, but your Sunday sports binges might come with a heftier check soon: Buffalo Wild Wings says it’s increasing the price on menu items by an average of about 3%, as chicken wings are costing restaurants more these days.
The restaurant chain known as B-Dubs by some (or BW-3s by everyone I went to college with as a nod to its birth as Buffalo Wild Wings & Weck) said in its earnings release that as it has to pay more for chicken wings, so shall the customer, reports CNNMoney.
Buffalo Wild Wings is paying 30% more than it used to, the company said, so by the end of November, customers should be seeing an uptick of about 3%.
The problem is farmers aren’t producing enough chickens, after unusually high feed prices forced them to cut down this year. Those prices have since come down, but prices for wings remain higher than experts thought they’d be by now.
But what with the chain upping its Fantasy Football ante by offering increased WiFi and hosting draft parties dedicated to the online game, it seems B-Dubs can afford to take the risk of ticking off customers over a price hike.
“They need to hike prices because wing costs are a big headwind. They have no choice,” a restaurant stocks analyst told CNNMoney. “It doesn’t sound like they expect much of a push back from customers.”
Indeed, because watching football isn’t watching football unless your fingers are covered in sloppy sauce while you happily lick chicken bones clean, we’re sure a 3% hike won’t hit customers too hard in the gut. Unlike those blazin’ wings I never should have attempted.
Hike! Buffalo Wild Wings lifts prices [CNNMoney]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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