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Mike Polk Jr. has some thoughts on the high price of chicken wings

Mike says of all the many tragedies that befell us during the pandemic, perhaps none has been so grossly unaddressed as the meteoric rise in chicken wing prices.

CLEVELAND — Of all the many tragedies that befell us during the pandemic, perhaps none has been so grossly under-discussed and unaddressed as the meteoric rise in chicken wing prices.

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Over the past several years avid wing lovers like myself could only watch in horror as the price of what used to be an affordable, blue-collar bar food continued to skyrocket before our eyes, to the point that some among us might have even been reduced to settling for the more economical “boneless chicken wings” option. Not me of course. I’d rather starve.

So you can understand the rush of elation I felt when I learned the news last week that wholesale chicken wing prices are now lower than they were before the pandemic!  

To which I said Huzzah! And again, Huzzah!

And what better way to celebrate than by ordering some newly-affordable chicken wings, and possibly even treating myself to blue cheese and celery.

Now, imagine my horror when I went online to order and….(dun dun dun)

The prices are still quite bad.

I checked out a bunch of places and these way-cheaper wing costs certainly don’t seem to have trickled down to any of our area’s more well known wing chains.

And while I don’t pretend to know anything about all that economic jazz, it doesn’t require very complicated calculation to arrive at the conclusion that if wholesale wing prices go down, the restaurants prices should probably reflect that. Now in fairness, maybe they simply have not yet had time to adjust their menus, or maybe they just need a little motivation to expedite the process.

So I’m here to advocate for my fellow wing-people right now by naming some names. That’s right, regional-chain wing restaurants whose wing prices are still too high, I’m CALLING YOU OUT!

You heard me, Quaker Steak and Lube, still trying to get $30 out of me for 20 wings! That’s excessive. But thank you for Arizona Ranch. Great flavor.

I’m calling you out too Winking Lizard! For charging me a slightly more reasonable but still unacceptable $26 dollars for a 20-pack of bone-in. Get it together, Lizard!

And don’t think I’m letting you off the hook, Buffalo Wild Wings with your weird $26.79 price tag. That’s $27 and we both know it! And it’s too high.

And that doesn’t just go for these three places, I’m talking to all of you local chicken wing peddlers! Show some humanity! We’ve endured a long and expensive "Wing Winter." 

Do the right thing, show us you care. Let’s get those wing prices down.  

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