About two years ago I talked about the surprising popularity of chicken wings, which have become the Super Bowl equivalent of turkey at Thanksgiving. Wings went from the cheapest to the most expensive part of the chicken. Then last August, I talked about how dark meat had displaced breast meat at the top of the grocery list.
Well, it seems the poultry industry can’t catch a break or their breath, because the chicken sandwich war between Chick-Fil-A and Popeye’s has added more turmoil to the poultry industry. Remember how I showed how chicken breeders had super-sized broilers over the last few decades?
It looks like it’s back to the genetic drawing board there too, as jumbo-sized breasts have fallen out of favor for those chicken sandwiches. The fast food industry has discovered birds with breasts that fit on a bun without trimming are a big labor saver, as well as being more flavorful. Not only do you not have to cut up the jumbo portion, you don’t have trimmings to find a market for. So suddenly there is a premium for birds around 4.25 pounds while industry has been churning out birds over 6 pounds.
As a result, there is a significant shortage of smaller birds, and could be for some time. Jan has noticed in the last few years that she couldn’t find smaller roasters called for in many of her 2-person recipes. I think we know the reason now.
Still my hat is off to chicken breeders, growers, and processors. I think they are setting an example of how to respond to consumer demand shifts. As far as I have seen they aren’t whining on social media about how fickle customers are, they’re putting in long hours and tremendous effort to supply what people want to buy and eat. Responding to market signals that change this rapidly can be exhausting, but more of us could take a page from the poultry industry playbook.
