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Cincinnati restaurants try to take advantage of Wing Week despite dealing with rising food costs

As Cincinnati Wing Week goes on, the rising cost of food is squeezing restaurants.

By: Taylor Nimmo

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CINCINNATI — The rising cost of food is hitting Tri-State restaurants hard.

Moerlein Lager House is taking advantage of Cincinnati Wing Week by offering $8 specials, but workers said it's not only customers feeling the impact of inflation.

“We try to do stuff like this even though it’s not the best for us business-wise,” said Moerlein Lager House’s sous chef, Haley Stewart. “We’re selling seven wings for $8, which is like almost half of what we normally do. We’re still paying the cost upfront.”

Among many other things, the cost of wings has gone up substantially.

“Wings — especially the past year — really have gone up in price, about 30-40%,” she said. “It’s kind of hard for restaurants to keep them on the menu because it is so pricey for us.”

Stewart said as a result they've had to raise prices on the menu.

“(It) unfortunately affects the consumer. I think a lot of people think it’s just kind of like a money-hungry thing. It’s a business, and margins in restaurants are already thin,” she said. “You have to do what you have to do to keep the business alive.”

But as many families try to cut back and focus on saving, Stewart said it’s been more difficult to get customers in the door.

“We’ve definitely seen a head count go down of the amount of people that come in here every day, but also the amount of money people are spending when they are here has gone down too as well,” Stewart said.

So why participate in Wing Week?

“When you are a part of this or Taco Week or Burger Week, I think it shows that our business is trying to be helpful to the consumer in the best way that we can … and also people trying our restaurant that normally wouldn’t be in here,” she said.

It brings in people like Matt Carroll and Joe Lynch, who stopped in on their lunch break for some $8 wings.

“Things are getting more expensive, but you still want to have those nice treats during the week,” Carroll said.

Inflation is impacting us all.

“With my family, we have two young kids, we’ve definitely cut back a bit,” he said. “Something like Wing Week, that’s something we would look for so we can still go out have a great experience and not hurt the pocket too much.”

You can see all the participating restaurants by downloading the Cincinnati Wing Week app. The deals run through Sunday.

If you download the app and check in at four or more locations throughout the week you’ll automatically be entered to win $250 in participating restaurants gift cards.

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