The Great Super Bowl Chicken Wing Panic of 2009

Published on January 27th, 2009

As if layoffs and foreclosures and executives fearing to use their private jets isn’t enough, now comes this. The horror…

On Thursday, a story broke that some restaurants around Buffalo were experiencing shortages of chicken wings & very high prices, causing worry among owners and wing fans alike who are hoping the issues of the Northeast do not spread further through the country.

Damn right that’s a problem, as this weekend is of course the Super Bowl, a weekend that accounts for 5% of all wing consumption during the year, with over 1 billion wings eaten in all. That’s a lot of chickens that died for your sins.

The potential chicken wing crisis started when producer Pilgrims Pride filed for bankruptcy December 1st. Pilgrims Pride was responsible for 25% of U.S. chicken processing. Higher gas and feed prices have also led some farms to decrease production.

At the very least, this production shortage is affecting wing prices. This week, the Georgia Department of Agriculture quotes a price of $1.425 for chicken wings, well above the 2008 high of $1.27.

Some restaurant owners were even calling for a boycott of their suppliers, citing prices that have almost doubled. “Forty pounds (of wings) would be like $85,” said Sam Musolino, owner of Sammy’s Pizzeria. Good luck getting football fans to boycott eating buffalo wings, Sam.

Why haven’t we heard about this on the MSM? Is the government afraid of chicken wing riots? Are detention camps being set up to hold irate, wingless Super Bowlers? I foresee blood in the streets. Mark my words!

11 users responded in " The Great Super Bowl Chicken Wing Panic of 2009 "

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# 1 Mr. Fusion said, on January 27th, 2009 at 5:17 am

Yes, chicken wings have risen. So has all food stuffs.

Almost anything made from corn has seen huge increases. I used to buy coffee creamer (Coffee Mate) at the Dollar Store for $1.00 lb. About two months ago it suddenly jumped to $1.00 for 11 oz.

These are just the end fallout from the failed Bush policies coming home to roost. Expect the regular Bush apologists to deny their asshole had anything to do with this.

# 2 Mr Diesel said, on January 27th, 2009 at 5:33 am

For the things that former President Bush screwed up I make no apologies and I liked him. He exhibited more class than Obomba did on the 20th. I said exhibited, not had more.

The reason that corn products are so high is because we are converting too much of it into a failed Ethanol program. You can blame the former administration but are you going to also blame the current administration? I doubt very much that anyone is going to criticize Obomba when he continues the trend of fucking up the food supply with a failed policy of thinking corn will ever give us energy independence.

# 3 Olo Baggins of Bywater said, on January 27th, 2009 at 5:40 am

Chickens are up in arms!

…I have a freezer full of wings.

# 4 Mr. Fusion said, on January 27th, 2009 at 6:34 am

#2, Diesel,

You can blame the former administration but are you going to also blame the current administration?

Go ahead and blame Obama for the high costs of food. The facts remain that unfettered speculation among commodities was the major inflation factor in not only foods, but energy, metals, and almost anything else you can name excepting wages. That was done during Bushes Administration, not Obama. Obama is the one who has to clean up the mess.

Bio fuels in themselves are not the problem. But using almost as much energy to obtain energy from corn is a problem looking for an answer. And yes, those Republican Congressmen from the Mid-West that pushed through the flawed energy bills are also to blame.

Bio fuels are the future and had a big influence on the cost of food. But we must get off our dependence on foreign oil.

# 5 Mr Diesel said, on January 27th, 2009 at 6:48 am

#4 Mr Fusion

I didn’t say blame Obomba, I said are you all going to blame Obomba when he continues to do the same thing. I don’t think so.

Obomba has actually done a few good things since he took office and I judge a man by his actions and deeds. As for his idiotic plan to save the economy in my mind it will be his first black mark and no I didn’t agree with bailing out the banks either.

As for who else is to blame for the food supply problem I’d probably agree that it could have been Republicans pushing for it from out West but as much as you would have to agree that the Democrats don’t want us to use our own resources to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

# 6 Barack McCain said, on January 27th, 2009 at 7:34 am

If Hooters runs out of wings, they’ll just have to sell some breasts.

# 7 Kanjy said, on January 27th, 2009 at 7:54 am

#5—It’s “Obama”, with only one B. You gave me a good idea for a dance called the Obamba Rhumba, though.

What’s so great about chicken wings, anyway? There’s hardly any meat on them! And how can there be a wing shortage, but I’m not hearing about a shortage of other chicken parts?

# 8 Floyd said, on January 27th, 2009 at 8:16 am

No shortage of chicken wings here in the Southwest. Buffalo Wild Wings has them, as do other places like Hooters and Wing Basket.

# 9 BigBoyBC said, on January 27th, 2009 at 8:39 am

NO CHICKEN WINGS FOR THE SUPERBOWL!!!!

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!

Is is wrong that I don’t give a rat’s butt about this issue?

# 10 Ah_Yea said, on January 27th, 2009 at 8:45 am

After staring at the pic for 5 minutes or so, I was able to look up and realize the lovely in the middle was wearing a chicken head.

I wonder if I’m the only guy who noticed?

# 11 Glenn E. said, on January 27th, 2009 at 11:09 pm

Chalk this up to another repercussion caused by investors like Morgan Stanley, raiding the commodities market. And forcing the price of gas and grain, to go up. The ethanol excuse just doesn’t account for it, when the price of gas, just as rapidly fell back in the fall. A whole lot of flex fuel vehicles just didn’t stop running, did they? When the mortgage market was going bust. Morgan and other institutions, probably switched to the Commodity Futures market, exclusively. And though the farmers aren’t making significantly more money now, than two years ago. The price of food keeps going up, regardless of gasoline’s price falling. Wheat based cereals (that’s what I eat) are still being sold in thinner boxes, at higher prices than a few years ago. Wheat’s got nothing to do with Ethanol. So why are these products just as costly, as corn based products. And potato chips bags are down to 3 3/4 once, for their cheapest unit. They don’t make green fuel from potatoes! But I’ll bet Morgan Stanley bought up a lot of potato crops, cheap, and then jacked their selling price up.

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