Skift Take
If prices go down now that will be good ... until they need to go back up again and consumers start complaining.
— Jason Clampet
With chicken as cheap as its ever been, restaurants are stepping up promos on nuggets and tenders to draw in diners.
Chicken breast prices have plunged nearly 20 percent from a year ago, data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show. Prices for boneless, skinless breasts were 90.08 cents a pound on Oct. 5, a record low in the data going back to 1992.
This may be sparking a new price war at restaurant chains: Burger King said Wednesday it will sell 10 pieces of chicken nuggets for just $1 in some U.S. markets, while Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen is touting a $5 deal for boneless wings, which use breast meat. Wingstop Inc., in the meantime, has started a new discount nationally that includes 25 boneless wings and three dips for $15.99.
Chicken breast meat is commonly used in fast-food fare, and it will be advertised heavily heading into football season in the U.S., said Will Sawyer, an economist at CoBank. Prices are low because of a glut of meat of all kinds across the U.S. he said.
“We’ll see a significant increase, if we haven’t already, of featuring of boneless wings,” Sawyer said.
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This article was written by Lydia Mulvany and Leslie Patton from Bloomberg and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].
