March Madness is cancelled this year, and it’s brought about a unique issue: the meat industry is overloaded with chicken wings it cannot sell. Stan Neva owns Northwest Meat Co. in Chicago—the group supplies meat to restaurants, hotels, and clubs. He says, “The wing business is totally in the gutter. They only way we’re selling wings is for curbside to-go. We have one pizza place in town that does carry-out and ordered some wings. But that’s been it. We probably lost 30 or 40 sports bars.” Demand for wings tends to surge during major sporting events, like the Super Bowl and March Madness, but in early March this year the novel coronavirus pandemic put the brakes on large gatherings of people—meaning people can’t attend sports games. The NCAA announced it was cancelling its iconic men’s and women’s basketball tournaments on March 12th. At the same time, governors in several states started to force restaurants to close dining areas. Consumers flocked to stores, but focused on buying things like bread, eggs, and potatoes to eat at home. Since the wings aren’t being sold at restaurants, they’re being pushed into supermarkets. But the issue remains that there’s simply no demand.
(UPI)