McDonald’s Chicken Wings: Chain Now Testing Deep-Fried Item In Chicago

If you’ve ever been sitting in a McDonald’s drive-thru line and wished chicken wings were a menu option, you may be in luck.

According to a report by the Associated Press, the world’s biggest hamburger chain will begin selling chicken wings in Chicago starting this week.

The decision to hawk wings in Chi-town comes after a successful test-run with the item in Atlanta in 2012.

Per the AP, the deep-fried wings, to be sold by McDonald’s as “Mighty Wings,” will be offered in three, five, or 10 piece packs, with prices starting around three dollars.

Should the Chicago test-run go smoothly, McDonald’s could potentially offer Chicken Wings nation-wide for a limited time; the chain has said it plans to ramp up the frequency of such special offers as a way to give customers more variety.

Despite the upside of offering wings, Business Insider points out there are some big barriers that McDonald’s has to consider before thinking about selling the item nationally — namely, rising chicken prices.

From the AP:

Prices for chicken wings have been climbing over the past year, reflecting an increase in the number of restaurants serving them, said David Harvey, an agriculture economist who specializes in poultry and eggs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In December, the cost of wings in the wholesale market in the Northeast was 26 percent higher than a year ago. Wings sold for $1.90 a pound that month, compared with $1.30 a pound for boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

“Whether [McD’s] will offer “Mighty Wings” even on a limited-time basis will likely depend on its ability to get wings at reasonable prices,” said Lynne Collier, an analyst with Sterne Agee.

HuffPo notes it isn’t the first time that McDonald’s has sold Mighty Wings.

The chain first started selling the wings in 1990, which the National Chicken Council credits as one of the chief reasons chicken wings have become so popular over the years.

The wings were discontinued in 2003 in the United States but wings are still sold at McDonald’s in some other countries. They’re currently on the menu in Spain as Alitas de Pollo (which means “chicken wings”) and were sold last year in Australia, re-branded as Chicken McWings.

Readers: Would you like to see chicken wings on the McDonald’s menu?