LEWES, Del. - The nation is currently dealing with a chicken shortage. On Delmarva, the demand is high, but there is still enough chicken to go around.
Kick n' Chicken has created a temporary menu, because chicken prices are higher than normal.
"Within the last three months the cost of some of my chicken products, especially buffalo wings, party wings have doubled. We've gone from $1.80 a pound to $3.50 a pound. And I've been told to be prepared for higher prices in the future,” said Charlie Pollard, owner of Kick’n Chicken.
James Fisher from the Delmarva Chicken Association says Delmarva is better off than other parts of the country, with chickens being grown on 1,000 family farms here.
“At the height of the pandemic we were serving many more grocery stores with chicken than restaurants and food service, and that balance is starting to come back,” said Fisher, the Communications Manager for DCA.
Fisher says there's now more demand for chicken at the restaurant customer base as restrictions loosen.
"Chicken is priced differently, packaged differently, delivered differently for those two customers, and changing that balance on the processing side, and getting it right week to week is a challenge to meet,” said Fisher.
Out of all the parts of the chicken, wings are the highest in demand.
"We raised our prices two weeks ago on buffalo wings and boneless wings about ten percent,” said Pollard.
The National Chicken Council says calling this a “chicken shortage” is a bit of a stretch, saying supply is somewhat tight, but the sky certainly isn't falling."
“Wings are very portable, easy to deliver, even when cooked they hold up well ... wings are a versatile way to have chicken so the demand for that is certainly rising a little faster for other parts of the bird,” said Fisher.
He says to remember there are a lot of people working very hard to bring the chicken from the farm to our tables.