Around the country, family-owned restaurants are struggling to keep a supply of chicken wings, tenders and breasts on their customers’ plates because of a nationwide poultry shortage.
“I thought it would drop off after the Super Bowl like it usually does or when March Madness is done. But, no, it's actually going up."
Poultry producers have not been able to keep pace partly because consumer demand has surged amid the pandemic. Americans have been turning to good old-fashioned comfort foods and buying into the fast-food chains’ chicken sandwich wars.
Early outbreaks of the coronavirus in meat processing plants further strained the poultry industry.
Supplies constricted even more in February, when chicken farms in Texas had to shut down temporarily due to Winter Storm Uri.
Moe Stevenson, who owns My Mama’s Kitchen in Virginia, told CBS that he started noticing the price increase in January.
“I thought it would drop off after the Super Bowl like it usually does or when March Madness is done,” he said. “But, no, it’s actually going up.”
Tom Super of the National Chicken Council told CBS, “Chicken producers are doing everything they can to overcome the devastating impact of Mother Nature, when she inflicted the once-in-a-lifetime winter storm on Texas and nearby states — major chicken-producing regions. It will take time and effort to eventually replace the impacted hatchery supply flocks in that region.”
Meantime, restaurants say they’re finding it hard to fill customer orders, which can lead to higher menu prices.
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