You’ll never go hungry in the metaverse. After McDonald’s applied for trademarks to open a virtual restaurant, another fast-food chain is winging its chances in the digital sphere, in which it has expressed an interest in setting up camp.
As reported byInsider and outlined by trade attorney Mike Kondoudis, on February 25, Wingstop submitted a trademark application for “downloadable virtual goods,” including non-fungible tokens, digital art, “virtual food and drink,” and loyalty and reward cards. The filing was made with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
From the application, it also seems like Wingstop is looking at opening an NFT platform for chicken wing-loving cryptocurrency holders to buy, sell, and trade related virtual assets.
Publicly, Wingstop remains tight-lipped about its metaverse plans, but tells Insider it hopes to “serve the world flavor in a virtual space.”
Wingstop is expanding its body of chicken offerings with Thighstop, an online-only, temporary restaurant that will deliver chicken thighs via DoorDash amid a chicken shortage.
The “new thigh concept” will be available at more than 1,400 locations nationwide and is addressing the “consumer’s fear of a chicken wing shortage head-on,” the company said in a release provided by Thighstop spokesperson Megan Sprague.
“We think they’ll appeal to guests because they’re a different part of the chicken and therefore a new way to experience Wingstop flavor,” Charlie Morrison, CEO and chairman of Wingstop restaurants, said.
“They eat like a wing, but with more meat,” Morrison continued.
Chicken lovers will have access to a menu filled with crispy thighs of a naked and sauce-covered variety with 11 signature Wingstop flavors.
And it doesn’t stop with the drumstick. Other Wingstop items including its ranch and blue cheese dips, fried corn, french fries and rolls are also available to order from Thighstop.
Eventually, Morrison hopes thighs will be incorporated into the larger Wingstop menu as a permanent addition.
Thighstop claimed in its launch announcement that it is addressing consumer fear over a wing shortage which made the news last month.
The nation’s chicken wars and cravings for comfort food during the pandemic have made poultry so scarce and expensive that some restaurants are limiting or running out of chicken sandwiches, wings and tenders. Others are considering changes to menus and promotions.
Heavy winter storms took a larger bite out of supply. While some restaurants have not been able to meet demand, it’s unclear if and how the low supplies will affect consumers in the grocery store.
The poultry industry is tamping down growing alarm over a chicken shortage with National Chicken Council spokesman Tom Super saying there was a “very tight supply but short of a shortage.”
“Yes, supply is somewhat tight, but the sky certainly isn’t falling,” Super said in May. “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.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, broilers — chickens raised for meat — slaughter was down 4% in the first quarter of 2021, with pounds produced down 3%. Production began picking back up in early April, Super said.
Morrison said the shortage has less to do with product than it does with labor.
“The shortage has as much to do with the impact of government stimulus and creating an artificially high wage rate that is competitive to the people that are necessary to actually process chicken,” Morrison said. “Because of this, the absolute number of chickens that are being processed is down.”
Sales are still on the rise at Wingstop, though. Morrison said that Wingstop saw 20.7% sales growth in the first quarter of this year in spite of constraints. Introducing Thighstop, he said, allows the company to focus on additional parts of the chicken.
The official Wingstop Twitter account has set the social media platform on fire by easily and instantly claiming the title of Horniest Brand on Social Media following the company’s wild conversation with an equally horny customer.
The original tweet, which came from Twitter user @kaykookiedough on Wednesday, May 12, suggested that the chicken wing chain’s ranch must have “nut” in it because it’s so delicious. Wingstop, seeing an opportunity to go viral, replied that while their ranch is “special white sauce” it does not — in fact — contain any nut. From there, all hell broke loose, as Wingstop eventually found itself saying things like “all you have to do is open your mouth” and “I know a lil freak in Hollywood”
Naturally, as is so often the case, the reaction on social media has been just as hilarious as the original content, with Twitter users absolutely losing their minds over how horny Wingstop was acting.
You can find the original Twitter thread, which is simply the latest reminder that social media is patently insane these days, below.
wingstop ranch gotta have nut in it no way it’s just that good
“Lincoln has the opportunity to be a social leader in this country,” Christensen said on Monday night. “We have been casually ignoring a problem that has gotten so out of control that our children are throwing around names and words without even understanding their true meaning, treating things as though they’re normal.”
In three days, his plea — satirical and mildly serious — was seen online by hundreds of thousands before airing nationally on “Good Morning America,” “Fox & Friends,” and being featured in The New York Times.
“Nothing about boneless chicken wings actually comes from the wing of a chicken,” he said. “We would be disgusted if a butcher was mislabeling their cuts of meats, but then we go around pretending as though the breast of a chicken is its wing?”
Renaming them, he said, is essential. Stopping the misrepresentation, a pressing matter. The options, he said, are endless.
“We can call them Buffalo-style chicken tenders,” he said. “We can call them ‘wet tenders.’ We can call them ‘saucy nugs,’ or ‘trash.’
Since Chicken Strip is trending on Twitter (Ross Stripling), I’d just like to settle the debate on ppl saying boneless wings are “like chicken nuggets”— They’re more like mini chicken strips because you can still see the muscle of the breast. Nuggets are grounded, reshaped, chicken mush!
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