On Super Bowl Sunday, Americans are expected to consume a whopping 1.45 billion chicken wings. But are they considered an appetizer or a main course?
Chili’s recently revamped its menu layout to discourage customers from ordering starters as main dishes.
The beloved chicken wing, a quintessential choice for Americans on Super Bowl Sunday, appears to be experiencing an identity crisis.
Traditionally, this finger-licking food has been a staple on the appetizer section of menus. However, over time, it has increasingly transitioned into a main course. Consider the many wing-focused chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Wingstop, which prominently feature this popular dish.
Additionally, many Americans simply devour wings as a main course, regardless of how they are categorized on a menu.
This was evident when Chili’s introduced wings to its menu last year ahead of football season. The result was that customers spent less or downgraded their orders by selecting wings as their meal instead of starting with them, as noted by Kevin Hochman, CEO of Brinker International, the parent company of Chili’s. Although the chain continues to offer wings, they are no longer as prominently displayed on the menu in an attempt to reverse this trend.
"We course corrected," stated a Brinker spokesperson to MarketWatch.
According to industry analysts and professionals, this issue persists in many other restaurants. The dilemma arises from the ambiguity surrounding the categorization of a plate of wings—appetizer, main course, or something entirely different.
Ironically, on Super Bowl Sunday, such distinctions seem irrelevant. On this day, an astonishing number of wings are consumed—1.45 billion wings are expected to be eaten, according to an estimate from the National Chicken Council—without much consideration of where they fit on the dining spectrum. It's simply game-day food.
However, during the rest of the year, confusion often arises.
Some argue that wings deserve to be considered a main course and are indispensable at mealtime.
"They're the raison d'être," remarked Arthur Bovino, a food writer and podcaster with extensive experience in Buffalo, the city most associated with this dish.
Others believe a few wings are sufficient and prefer to keep them in the starter category.
"I don't like to eat an entire serving of wings," shared Kristi Marquez, vice president of marketing for Das Beer Garden, a sports-oriented restaurant in Jupiter, Florida, where wings are naturally featured.
Marquez added that their establishment follows a grazing-style dining approach, blurring the line between starters and main dishes, so the wing conundrum is not a major concern.
Other restaurant owners mention that even if customers order the wing appetizer as a meal, they do not discourage it.
"My aim is for people to savor their meals. If they want to have an appetizer as a main course, I support it," said Ron Silver, chef and owner of Bubby's, a popular restaurant in New York City known for its gourmet take on smoked-style wings.
Arlene Spiegel, a restaurant consultant based in New York, noted that restaurants are aware that wings, often spicy in the Buffalo style, encourage customers to order more drinks, which is where the restaurant business makes most of its profit.
"The real margins are in alcohol," she explained.
The connection between wings and alcohol reflects the origins of the wing craze in America decades ago. Initially, the dish was neither an appetizer nor an entrée but simply a low-cost bar snack. Clark Wolf, another industry consultant, likened it to "20th-century peanuts," a reference to a historic complimentary bar snack intended to make patrons thirsty.
The creation of the Buffalo-style version of wings, credited to the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, which began serving the dish in the 1960s, is often cited as the turning point. Although there is debate about whether others in Buffalo came up with it first, the point is that wings and alcoholic beverages were closely linked.
Eventually, wings transcended the bar scene and became a staple at restaurants, particularly as a shareable appetizer. Today, they are the third most commonly featured appetizer on menus after salad and soup, according to Datassential, a company that analyzes restaurant trends.
But how and why did wings transition into meal territory?
Some industry insiders and observers attribute this shift to the emergence of wing-focused restaurants—Buffalo Wild Wings, a leader in this category, has been around since 1982. Essentially, once certain dining establishments made wings their specialty, it signaled that wings were no longer just a sideshow to the dining experience but could stand on their own ...whether at a restaurant or when made at home.
"It's changed the perception of how people eat wings," said Chandler Steele, a senior manager of innovation at Tyson Foods, a leading poultry company that supplies wings to restaurants and also packages them for supermarkets.
Experts also point to recent factors influencing wings' transition into entrée territory. One significant factor is the rising cost of dining out in an era prone to inflation, evidenced by government data indicating a 7.1% increase in restaurant prices in 2023.
Wings are invariably a more economical option than many other menu choices. For instance, at a Chili's in suburban New York City, a dozen wings with fries cost $18.89, while a full order of the chain's popular baby-back ribs with fries and mac 'n' cheese costs $25.59.
There's also a generational aspect, as younger diners don't always adhere to the traditional standards of what qualifies as an entrée, according to Claire Conaghan, associate director of publications at Datassential.
"They will build a meal around whatever they desire most," she stated.
Given that restaurants see higher average checks, what might be the future of wings? Industry professionals anticipate various scenarios.
Restaurants could bundle wings with other low-cost items, like the aforementioned Chili's combo with fries, to increase the price slightly and improve margins. Alternatively, they could offer wings in smaller portions to clearly indicate their status as appetizers.
Another possibility is that they might downplay wings altogether, particularly as an item subject to significant price fluctuations from suppliers—there's typically a surge around the Super Bowl due to supply and demand—and therefore not always yielding high margins.
"Do they yield high returns? Not necessarily. Are they high-risk? Absolutely," remarked Russ Spencer, a senior director at Craftable, a tech company serving restaurants.
However, America's appetite for chicken wings on Super Bowl Sunday or any other day is such that no one expects this menu item to disappear anytime soon. If anything, there are likely more diners ready to indulge in a substantial serving of them.
That's certainly the sentiment of David Thomas, a 48-year-old wing enthusiast from suburban Chicago. He's content with a wing or two as a happy-hour snack. However, when it comes to a genuine wing meal, he requires a plate of about 10.
"They're definitely a meal," he affirmed.
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