Restaurant management tip: Save money & offer variety with bone-in wing alternatives!

Cauliflower & Seitan to the rescue!

If you haven’t noticed, the price of chicken wings has been rising steadily over the past year.

Prices have jumped from just $1.50/lb to $2.09/lb since August of 2016. That’s a 40% price increase. Most of this is due to increased demand as chicken wings aren’t just for sports bars anymore. These price increases are forcing operators to rethink their wing strategies and look for alternatives to buffer these price jumps.

Buffalo Wild Wings, for example, changed their Tuesday night wing special to be for boneless wings exclusively. They cited the popularity of the boneless wing as part of the motivation, but acknowledged that the buy-one-get-one-free traditional wing special was simply too expensive to continue.

With the football season beginning, the logic of shifting sales to a more favorably-priced alternative is clear. This way restaurants can still deliver the same buffalo sauce flavor experience and at a price both they and the consumer can embrace. But alternatives for traditional wings don’t stop there.

Whether you embrace a product like Seitan (a wheat-based meat alternative) or using a vegetable like cauliflower, there are some great ways to deliver the “wing” experience to your vegetarian or adventurous guests. Check out the recipe links below for some great ways to prepare both seitan and cauliflower. If you’re looking for additional flavor ideas, Frank’s King of Wings has your back.

Frank’s RedHot® is a registered trademark of The French’s Food Company LLC.

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