Yikes… Expensive!
What are people charging (menu) for wings?
We are currently at $5.99 for 8pc orders but they are pathetically puny wings.
Rather charge more and sell some great wings but am also afraid of freaking people out (price-wise).
I believe foodcost (wings alone) on a 10pc La Nova was $4.65
I don’t have my numbers handy, but I know my boneless wings are probably the highest food cost item on my menu. It’s an item that I feel I need to have around and they are simple to prepare so it kind of balances out. But I can’t wait to get my fryers in so I can make something better. We use the Pierce Boneless Wing Dings. They’re ok out of the oven, but I’m trying to eliminate frozen, processed stuff when I can.
Ha ha… just cooked some of those up- not bad. Better than what I am currently using- no fryers for me- but they were good out of the oven, I thought.
The FC on those is higher than what I am using but is doable- the La Nova wings… I can’t make that work.
I pay about .27 per wing (I use fresh mountaire jumbo party wings) I sell them at $8.00 8pc/$13.95 16pc I go through 40lbs a week.
Tenders are where its at especially if you’re in nh. I sell 160lbs a week of those
We are doing wings from fresh whole, Not a good costing item at all right now, wings are at $1.81/LB So that means we are exceeding a 40% foodcost on wings
we average 22, 10-piece orders, per each 40 pound case
I separate the drummie from the paddle, and leave the tip on, we smoke them, chill, portion, and fry to order. No veggies, ranch dressing is an upcharge, oddly, blue cheese dressing is not popular here . I swear Ranch dressing is considered a staple food in this area.
Where are you getting those?
Any push back on those prices? I’m currently 8 for $5.99 but they are from Tweety bird and are beyond puny.
The La Nova wings are great but…
We use the fresh wings also. Usually the Mountaire but sometimes another company is what is available. We pay closer to .34 a wing. We just upped our price to $8.99 for a 10 piece. Our wing food cost floats around 45 to 50% . I try to look at it like more of $ margin rather than the food cost %. I figure for every order of wings we sell that’s another $4 going in the bank to pay the rest of the bills.
We use the la nova roasted chicken wing they are delicious people love them we sell a lot of wings our 10pc goes for 7.99 but will be raising the price to 8.99 soon as the food cost for a 10 pc is at 49% right now.
sorry I posted my price strictly off my order guide from Reinhart it says the jumbo party wings are 6-8 per pound. My quick math was $1.89lb --$75.60 case–divided by 280 wings was about $.27 per wing. Anyway I counted the wings today because those are items sold by the piece not weight like my tenders are, there is only about 210-220 wings per case. so my price is actually $.34 a wing.
I don’t get any backlash from my prices.
If you decide to go fresh don’t forget the raw handling fact and that they take longer to cook(we fry them from raw) also they create more dishes from the bins and buckets you marinate and store them in
We also use the Mountaire brand, I get whole wings only because I was seeing too much mismatched drummy to paddle discrepancies further lowering my yield, which jacked my foodcost around even more than it is.
in a pinch, I will order Sysco fresh random whole wings. I just try to avoid any meats from my Sysco house, we’ve been hosed too many times with “Big Blue” meats.
We also use the fresh wings. I remember not too long ago when the wings were $.45/lb They went up a couple of years ago and never came back down!
Do any of you brine your wings before frying? If so, how long and what solution?
Thanks
Good info, all. Thanks.
Fresh won’t happen- no fryer, grill, etc. Wouldn’t do fresh, anyway… just for operational considerations.
Liked your site, Vintage! In Manch all the time so will stop in.
I had also miscalculated my current (puny) wing costs, but the Pierce product seems like a good compromise between my current product and the La Nova.
We sell an order of 10 wings for $8.49. I’m in Buffalo NY.
If you’re following the ‘Avian Flu’ outbreak, I’m sure you’ll conclude that significant price hikes may be just around the corner.
My supplier already warned us.
We use the Pierce wings and would love to find a better substitute. They are inconsistent in size and have lots of crumbs in the bags. we try to portion them by weight, sometimes a 10 piece wing will be 12-13 pieces.
Ugh. I hate that. But, the ones I am using right now are almost comical.
We do the same- weigh each order.
I mistakenly ordered the Pierce breaded wings and they are quite good- after they go through the oven FOUR times. I assume they are meant for a fryer.
We are just eating them ourselves.
Fairly consistent and decent size, though.
Interestingly enough, I was wondering if they were pre-cooked or not- really hard to tell under that breading.
The Pierce are $50/case and the La Nova $70
Pierce makes an XL wing ding. I buy them for us mainly and a few customers order them. But theyre meant to be fried Im pretty sure.
Maybe An affordable option to try if you want to do a wing from raw/fresh without a fryer;
“Masterbuilt” Company makes an electric smoker for a very affordable price, maybe take some fresh raw wings, smoke them to 165 (minimum legal finish temps for poultry) in the smoker, chill them, portion, and finish in your oven(s) to order. then hit them with some sauce.
Here’s a link to the unit at Gander Mountain >>> http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?i=415033
I have one, it was given to me used many years ago, I have it at home and I use it strictly for making venison summer sausage, Kielbasa, and snack sticks due to the precise digital temp controller.
They do a decent job for what they are. I do know a few people who make pulled pork and brisket in them at home, but I couldn’t recommend it for authentic BBQ meats.
Another option, (I hate to suggest its use though) is to get some liquid smoke, cut it 50/50 with water, ,maybe add a splash of soy sauce, spritz the wings lightly with it, then bake them ahead of time in an oven on a mesh rack above a sheet pan,. cold hold them, and finish them to order as needed.
Same here. They are the best we’ve found since we only have an oven, but it seems in the last 6 months or so there are a lot more crumbs and varying sizes. We sell per piece now, but are planning on switching to selling by weight soon.