A Utah man is giving Big Wing something of an anatomy lesson. A chicken anatomy lesson, that is.
Challis Anderson (@challisanderson) has a bone to pick with chicken wing restaurants. Earlier in the week, he aired out his frustration on TikTok.
“I’m here to call out all the … wing places like Wing Stop, Buffalo Wild Wings, whatever,” he begins the post. Then Anderson pulls a raw wing from a grocery store container and holds it up to the camera.
He points at the different parts. “That’s a flat. That’s a drumstick,” he says. “But this is considered one wing from the chicken, and you’re charging me for two wings. And I’m only getting … one.”
Anderson’s rant has inspired hundreds to weigh in in the comments. The post also has more than 350,000 views so far.
Judging by the comments, many people have beef with Big Wing, as Anderson dubs it in the caption.
1Wing Or 2?
Anderson is correct. The chicken wings most of us think of are actually the two parts of a chicken’s wing: the drum and the flat. The whole wing is cut in twain and sold as individual wings.
He calls out Buffalo Wild Wings and Wingstop. But in reality, the vast majority of restaurants sell wings this way.
Most people just accept this. Not Anderson. He’s not alone in this complaint, either.
Two years ago, a user on the r/popularopinion Reddit posited that restaurants should be required to disclose whether they’re selling whole or half wings.
“There’s no way to know which one they’re selling until you order and sometimes the same restaurant will even sell both whole wings and half wings on the same menu,” they wrote.
In comments, they added, “A drum or a flat is not a wing. A wing is a drum and flat connected together.”
While many agreed, a few suggested that this chicken wing complaint is much ado about nothing. Restaurants have been selling wings this way for decades, after all. So what’s the big deal?
Plenty of people disagree. They see that wing glass as half empty.
‘I Remember When…’
Some of the frustration over restaurants selling half a wing as a whole chicken wing seems fueled by anger at inflation more broadly.
As prices have gone up, businesses have used creative ways to try to trick customers into thinking theirs hasn’t changed. Shrinkflation and skimpflation are two common, and commonly loathed, ways of doing so.
To some minds, selling half a wing and calling it a whole one is in the same family.
“I remember when Hooters sold both as one,” one commented on Anderson’s post. “They was 25.99 for 50. Now it’s 50$ for for 25 wings because they cut it and call it two.”
Anderson replied, “You get it.”
Another opined that takeout wings are “a scam” because you can get them on the cheap at the grocery store. Anderson responded that 5 pounds costs a mere $13 at Walmart.
“That’s why I make them at home. They taste better and are cheaper,” a second commenter agreed.
The creator is of the same mindset.
“If you can get 15 flats and 15 drums from Walmart for $13 and it’s $12 for six at these restaurants it’s not a supply problem,” he wrote. “It’s a markup problem.”
@challisanderson @Buffalo Wild Wings @Wingstop I got my eye on you
Anderson didn’t immediately respond to BroBible’s direct message sent via TikTok.