Wings W/ out purchasing from la nova

I am doing wings right now, I purchase them from lanova… they are fairly good… however cost a ton, at the last pizza expo I went to there was a seminar about doing wings that are either not pre cooked or pre cooked but un sauced that taste amazing. can anybody offer some cost effective wing companies. Thanks.

we use a pre cooked not sauced wing the company name is speedybird when i get my order on wed. i will look on box for more info if any. they are big n meaty and taste awsome my pizza supplier gets them

We buy pre-cooked wings from both Sysco and from US Food depending on pricing. I think lately we have been using Patuxtent (something like that)

They are 10-12 to one and very tasty. We put them in either hot or BBQ sauce and run them through the oven…

The company pizzabarn mentioned is:

www.townsends.com

We don’t use them but I have emailed them for info.

We currently use Tyson Jumbo Wings precooked. Very pricey but good.

We used to use La Nova and never had much luck with them, and with the cost it was ridiculous.

Bodegahwy if you don’t mind me asking what do you pay for plain pre cooked wings? We have always bought ours pre made.

Pierce precooked unbreaded is a good wing, size is bigger than average and cost is about $70 for 25 pounds. Very little shrinkage. I have been buying them from US Foods for almost a year. I did a little experiment first. I took a 5 pound bag of uncooked wings and cooked them up and lost over 50% of the weight. So a 40 pound case of uncooked wings were actually more expensive than the 25 pound case of precooked. LaNova is a good wing but much more expensive than the Pierce brand. IF you like the quality of LaNova you should be happy with the Pierce.

We have purchased Tyson and Pierce at various times as well. I’ll have to check the pricing next time I am in the shop. I’ll post it here.

We resisted selling wings for years because we didn’t like any of the ones available - that is until our sales rep sampled Willowbrook wings for us. They are Kettle Fried instead of steamed and hold up well to a longer cook time (we bake ours for 10 minutes so that the bone takes some heat - they don’t scorch and deliver well). The basic ones comes with a peppery dry rub which is delicious, so we sell them plain or sauced.

One drawback is that they are huge - 6 wings weigh in at an average of 10oz. So some customers balk at the cost… “6 wings for $x.xx? I’ll pass.” But after they see the 7" tin stuffed full and taste them, most change their tune.

The food service case is 10lbs but Sam’s Club carries a 4lbs bag which is more expensive but will allow you to sample/experiment with them.

Invest in a deep fryer or 2,and go w/ fresh wings .There is no comparison to taste and profits.

                                    Niccademo

unfortunately u will never recoup the investment of adding a fryer, hoods, fire suppression systems, insurance, grease, grease removal, etc, by selling wings…they are always gonna be a high food cost item… stay with the precooked wings, tyson has a good wing, and so does a company called dutch quality.

I use the Tyson Jumbo wings (uncooked) from Sam’s Club ($1.39/#). We season & boil them ahead of time so they are fully cooked. Then they are cooled and portioned. When ordered, they go in the fryer for 3 minutes to crisp then toss in our secret wing sauce. Heck of a lot more profit than when I used to use LaNova.

We use Pierce Wing Dings and deep fry them. We were with a franchise before and had to use LaNova. We sell a ton more wings now at the same price $5.99 for 10, $10.99 for 20, $24.99 for 50 and 49.99 for 100. We make our own Buffalo sauce that people love! We just blend Whirl butter flavor and Franks Hot Sauce 50/50. Food cost for 15# of wings is about $41.00 or $2.73 a pound. There are about 18 orders of 10 wings per box. So I can sell 18 orders at $5.99 = $107.82 That yields a 38% food cost (not including sauce or packaging). We used LaNova and the same pricing and there cost was something like $3.50 a pound!

Oh my Gosh, such great imput. Has anybody figured out a way to get costs down to about 35% with packaging. and without frying?

GT, I have trouble grasping how you would think that theres not a big profit in wings.I could pay off a fryer,hood and exaust system within a year on fried items or maybe sooner.With a fryer you open all new doors as of Wings,f/f,mozz sticks,Zeppole,poppers and many more.Fresh wings are .89-.99 a llb.I sell for 6.25 w/ a 2oz soufle of blu and a piece of celery.We sell about 4-600 llbs of wings a week so do the math.And this is just the wings,I won’t go into the fried items that are all GREAT profit items.90% of Americans love fried food,go with the stats my friend.

                                  Niccademo

not all profitable menu items have low food cost %'s - don’t get caught in the trap of % only - you can’t take a % 2 the bank…

chances are wings are an add on/impulse buy, so each time you sell one, you add 3-4 bucks to the bottom line…

1st point I generally agree with . . . 2nd point not so much in my marketplace. Wings are a raison d’etre here in Grantville. While pizza is my main line, the number of customers who order wings in huge, and they add on cheese-sticks since we don’t sell fries. Some wing customers have never eaten our pizza :?

That all said, we simply cannot run a 25% food cost on wings and have people buy them. They are a cost intensive item that takes a different pricing strategy from us. We try to make our profit in volume on wings. We just keep trying to send more and more out to make all the numbers align better at the end of the month.

goomba where are you buying fresh wings for 89 to 99 a pound? i have been paying 1.45 for a while now and go through a ton. you might want to check your price

Follow up on wing prices:

We are buying 10-12 count fully cooked wings. This week the price quotes are:

Sysco: 3.29 lb for a 15 lb case
US Foods: $2.75 for a 25 lb case

We thaw them ahead and cook them off in the oven (one pass on the pizza settings) with either honey BBQ sauce or Hot sauce. Delivery is in a foam box with Ranch dressing. Cost all in assuming the order weighs a pound, is about:

Wings 2.75
Dressing .22
Box/liner .06
Sauce .10
Total: $3.13

We charge $9.00

Food cost is high at 35% but there is no prep to speak of, it is an add on sale and coupons do not apply to them.

They are pretty popular during the winter. Less so in the summer.

Patriot,either I’m lucky or smart but I’m taking a great profit to the BANK due to my fried wings and other fried items.Pizza and Pasta are my 'bread and butter’if you will.but w/ out my fryers I think I would still be working my way out of a hole.A business w/out a fryer here in Philly just would not survive.Don’t know if you read my thread but at 600 llbs. a week in wings @.89 a llb I wouldn’t just call that impulse buying.

                           Niccademo

ddariel,I had to laugh when you say go check your price.I am the price Nazi my friend.I just purchased 200 llbs.this morn. @ .89 llb from my local chix.purveyer.If you are interested in coming down and picking up I can give you info…If your paying 1.45 llb you must not be buying in bulk or you need to price around because thats high.I pay them prices in Nov.,Dec. and Jan up to 1.89 llb

                     Niccademo

Niccademo
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goomba where are you buying fresh wings for 89 to 99 a pound? i have been paying 1.45 for a while now and go through a ton. you might want to check your price
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Goomba, I gotta agree with ddariel…I can not remember the last time we have paid less than a dollar on fresh jumbo 6-9ct wings…
Did you have to get some of your goombas to bust some kneecaps to get that sorta pricing :wink:
Good for you…around here $1.40-$1.50 is pretty good
Go Eagles!