This marks a high-water mark for consumption, the NCC reports, topping last year’s figure by 20 million wings. Tom Super, NCC spokesman, said while demand will be at an all-time high, a supply shortage is not expected to play a role during the festivities surrounding the event.
“There will be no wing shortage,” Super said. “Whether you’re a fan of the left wing or the right wing, there’s no debate about America’s favorite Super Bowl food.”
As part of its research, NCC polled consumers about their chicken wing preference, and fans of bone-in varieties were clear winners. Sixty percent of wing eaters surveyed preferred traditional, bone-in wings while 40 percent picked boneless. The findings support foodservice consumption trends quantified by recent research by The NPD Group, which concluded that 64 percent of chicken wings served in restaurants are bone-in. Servings for the bone-in wings rose by 6 percent in 2017, while boneless wings declined at a similar rate.
NCC’s infographic illustrates the consumption and whets appetites of fans.
