Purdue: Price of wings dropping ahead of Super Bowl

Football fans will once again be gathering to watch the big game on Sunday, and while the price of food has gone up considerably over the last year, one Super Bowl staple seems to be bucking the trend of inflation. Jayson Lusk, head of the Agricultural Economics Department at Purdue University, says chicken wing prices have fallen significantly over the past two years.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Lusk said despite the drop for chicken wings, consumers will still be paying more for all of their Super Bowl snacks.

“Overall, food prices at the grocery store are running about 11 to 12% higher than they were during last year’s Super Bowl season,” said Lusk. “So, it’s probably going to be a more expensive meal.”

With regard to chicken wings, Lusk said even if inflation wasn’t a factor, the price of wings typically goes up this time of year.

“It’s normally the case that around a Super Bowl season that chicken wing prices do increase a bit as consumers go out to the grocery store and stock up on those items, and we’re all competing for against each other for the chicken wings that exist. But even still, it appears that will be much lower than prices we’ve seen in the last couple of years.”

Another trend being tracked by Lusk and his colleagues is an increase in restaurant spending. Lusk said spending at places such as Buffalo Wild Wings, Chili’s and Applebee’s has risen in February and March over the last few years.

“We’re trying to uncover what the cause of that is,” he said. “At first we thought it might be the Super Bowl. We thought it might be Valentine’s Day. But, I think we’re thinking now it could be really related to the time of year when people get their tax returns back.”

Lusk said there is a very cyclical spending pattern at those types of restaurants, and his team is in the midst of researching the cause of the increased crowds.