It's been no big secret that the price of chicken wings has skyrocketed in recent years. Data from the USDA's most recent chicken market report shows that in just the past week, the prices for wings and party wings jumped by 33 cents and 25 cents per pound, respectively.
Wing chains have been working around these price spikes, mainly by heavy promotion of boneless wings, which can be made using other parts of the chicken. Wingstop, however, appears to be testing and marketing a whole new cut: bone-in thighs.
Available in any of the chain's 11 signature flavors, the bone-in thighs are fried just like regular wings would be cooked. Thighs are often considered one of the more tender, juicy parts of the bird when cooked perfectly, since they have more fat than white meat.
Wingstop started testing bone-in thighs a couple of weeks ago, telling Foodbeast that they were available in seven different test markets. Foodbeast was able to independently confirm that these markets include the following locations:
- El Paso, Texas
- Detroit, Michigan
- Denver, Colorado
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Atlanta, Georgia
- St. Louis, Missouri
Wingstop is having this test be a part of their "whole bird strategy," with the goal being to "utilize more parts of the chicken and increase the amount of contract-based purchases," according to a Wingstop representative. This should theoretically help control the price range of chicken the chain is selling.
For those interested in trying the bone-in thighs in the test markets, they're available in a bunch of different orders. There's a 2-piece or 5-piece set, along with combos that include thighs, wings, fries or veggie sticks, and a drink. The largest of these bundles includes 10 thighs, 10 classic wings, and 10 boneless wings.
As for a national release, Wingstop hopes to have more information on how successful their test run was early next year.
