Sponsored by Wayne-Sanderson Farms, LLC.
It is easy to see why flavorful chicken wings are exceptionally marketable in restaurants. It comes down to versatility and mass consumer appeal.
Since 1964, when the first plate of Buffalo wings in a tangy, peppery sauce was served at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, restaurants have sold an incalculable number of these palate-tingling delights. Over the decades, wings with many other flavor profiles, including honey-barbecue, teriyaki and sweet chili, have become hits as well. For restaurant operators, chicken wings with signature flavors are the go-to menu items to serve customers in the mood for fun, zesty and craveable munching.
“I can tell you that they're very, very useful to operators,” says Beau Batchelor, corporate research chef for product development at Wayne-Sanderson Farms, which has a portfolio of three fully cooked wings brands.
Craveable and customizable
It is a given that fully cooked wings have a faster order pickup time than wings cooked from scratch. But there are additional advantages. “The way we formulate these wings enhances their crispiness and crunchiness and ability to hold sauce,” says Batchelor. “They’re nice and sticky and craveable, everything you’re really looking for from wings.”
Versatility is another strong suit. Frozen, fully cooked chicken wings come in a variety of styles—bone-in and boneless, and with seasoning levels ranging from mild to spicy. And they adapt readily to all sorts of added sauces and flavorings. They are quick and easy to prepare for both dining room guests and off-premises orders. Just rethermalize them and glaze with a sauce.
What’s more, the inherent customizability of wings makes them appealing to many people who love to put personal flavoring touches on their food. In fact, 74% of customers want to be able to customize the items in their orders when they get food delivery, according to the DoorDash Restaurant Online Ordering Trends report last year. This makes it easy for operators to create a selection of signature chicken wings with distinctive flavors that appeal to patrons with experimental tastes.
Finally, wings are a superior food for delivery and takeout, which have become widespread consumer habits these days. The simple reason is they maintain their flavor and moistness extremely well when packed up to travel. In fact, chicken wings are one of the few menu items that are just as good for home delivery as they are in the dining room.
Batchelor sums up the deliverability of wings: “They’re versatile and they hold for a very long time. When you've got nice, glazed honey-barbecue wings or Buffalo wings, they are going to hold well and your customers will be happy.”
It should also be noted that the low labor requirement, speed of preparation and wide appeal of fully cooked chicken wings makes them ideal for small-footprint stores that specialize in takeout and delivery. Those same attributes make them appealing additions to restaurants with broad menus and a combination of dine-in and off-premises business.
Betting on the portfolio
The Wayne-Sanderson Farms portfolio of fully cooked chicken wings brings restaurant operators the advantages of labor efficiency and consistent flavor and texture while providing the variety that is so important to flavor-craving customers.
Buffaloos: These are traditional hot and spicy Buffalo-style chicken wings. “They have an exhilarating heat, but it’s manageable,” says Batchelor. “We marinate them to give you that great classic Buffalo flavor all the way to the bone.”
Crispy Fliers: These wings offer “an overwhelmingly, really crispy bite,” says Batchelor. And they lend themselves to picking up the flavor of sauces, which makes them ideal for customized signature wings offerings.
Fly’n Saucers: This is a new wings brand available in oven-roasted or steamed for versatility. “It’s a workhorse wing with a savory, solid chicken flavor for anyone cooking in an oven, either conventional or convection,” says Batchelor. “They reheat evenly and go well with pretty much any glaze.”
Having products like Buffaloos, Crispy Fliers and Fly’n Saucers in the kitchen enables an operator to promote seasonal specialties and limited-time offerings just by varying the sauce flavors.
“You could turn Crispy Fliers into teriyaki wings that are perfect for an Asian grill,” says Batchelor. “Or if you have a sports bar, you could combine them with lots of different flavors or just make a simple, crispy wing that goes great with a beer. You can use the same product to do all of that.”
A lineup of fully cooked chicken wings with signature flavors is a crowd-pleasing addition to a restaurant menu. For more information about the Wayne-Sanderson Farms wings portfolio, visit https://waynefarms.com/wings.