| It sounds more like there is plenty of chicken, but not enough people working to process the parts for sale. |
[MSN] It’s not like we weren’t warned. The doomsayers predicted this months ago: "A MASSIVE CHICKEN WING SHORTAGE IS BREWING," blared the headline of one trade publication in early February.But it turned out to be so much worse.
Bloomberg News, on Thursday: "Fried-Chicken Craze Is Causing U.S. to Run Low on Poultry."
In other words, not just wings, but chicken in general. Or, as Bojangles put it in a recent tweet about their tenders: "we’re experiencing a system-wide shortage :( But they will be back soon!"
It seems the poultry paucity has arrived, heralded by a series of fast-food executives describing in earnings calls their stores’ struggles to stock enough chicken — nuggets, tenders, wings, patties, all shapes and sizes — to keep pace with legions of peckish Americans."Demand for the new sandwich has been so strong that, coupled with general tightening in domestic chicken supply, our main challenge has been keeping up with that demand," said David Gibbs, CEO of Yum Brands, whose KFC restaurants recently rolled out a new fried-chicken sandwich.
Charles R. Morrison, chairman and CEO of Wingstop, said this week that "Suppliers are struggling, just as many in our industry are, to hire people to process chicken, thus placing unexpected pressure on the amount of birds that can be processed and negatively affecting supply of all parts of the chicken in the U.S., not just wings."
Chicken has for years been the most popular meat in the United States and experts and analysts have cited several reasons for the current deficit. Some are related to the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...— pandemic-spurred disruptions in the market and supply chain and an increased demand for a comfort food that is takeout- or delivery-friendly. Others, industry watchers say, include increased competition, volatile feed prices and even the deadly winter storms that swept over the South in February, halting the work of chicken processors.
And then there’s the proliferation of the fried chicken sandwich. The Washington Post dubbed 2019 the Year of the Chicken Sandwich — and for good reason. Popeyes kicked things off that August, releasing a new chicken sandwich that quickly took over the Internet. Then the virality hit the streets, with eager customers queuing up for blocks to buy a sandwich. Just over two weeks after the new menu item dropped, Popeyes announced it had sold out.Even now, the craze persists, with Popeyes continuing to duke it out with Chick-fil-A for sandwich supremacy and KFC and McDonald’s entering the fray with new offerings.