McDonald's Is Getting More Serious About Bringing 'Mighty Wings' To The Masses

By Andrew Currie on Flickr

Back in July, McDonald's starting testing "Mighty Wings" — an item it hadn't sold in the U.S. in nearly a decade — in select stores around Atlanta.

Now, it's expanding those efforts.

McDonald's will be selling chicken wings in Chicago starting this week, the AP reports. They're likely to be sold in three, five, or 10 piece packs.

A spokesperson for the company has confirmed the news, but noted that there are not yet any plans to bring the wings to any other cities.

There are some big barriers that McDonald's has to consider before thinking about selling the wings nationally — namely chicken wing 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.

McDonald's sold the wings in the U.S. back in the 1990s, but they were taken off the menu in 2003. The National Chicken Council credits Mighty Wings as a big reason chicken wings are so popular nowadays.

As we previously noted, if McDonald's does go national with the wings, it'd be crossing an important line. Chicken sandwiches are one thing, but chicken chains like KFC and Popeyes count on bone-in chicken to be their core items.