Local restaurants and retailers North America wide are seeing a spike in business ahead of the Super Bowl as fans prepare for their Super Bowl parties.

Kristina Boehm, a regional representative for Buffalo Wild Wings, said the restaurant chain typically sells 3,000 to 4,000 wings on a given night accompanying a sporting event. For the Super Bowl, that number usually increases to 6,000 to 10,000.

Some wing places said they are dealing with the highest prices ever, but are not hiking their prices. The National Chicken Council said chicken wings are more expensive than skinless, boneless chicken breasts right now. The council attributed the price increase, in part, to demand. The council said it expects the prices to come down, but not until after another big sports event -- March Madness.

The defending champion returned to WIP’s Wing Bowl 18 and devoured the competition. Jonathan “Super” Squibb, the skinny 24-year-old from Winslow Township, N.J., ate 238 wings in 30 minutes to set up a wing-off next year with three-time champion, Joey Chestnut of San Jose, Calif., a professional eater. Squibb won a Ford F-150 pickup truck and a ring for his gastronomic efforts.

Wing Bowl is an annual eating contest founded in 1993 by Philadelphia talk-radio hosts Al Morganti and Angelo Cataldi as a celebration of gluttony. 20,000 fans, competitors and a host of  scantily clad 'Wingettes' take part in the 'weighty' competition.

Read about the events long history.

View images and video from the eating contest and Miss Wing Bowl here.

In a recent exposé in the Toronto Star, journalist Ben digs deep into the chicken wing industry, uncovering the 'boneless' chicken wings that have started appearing in pubs and restaurants across North America.

Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, the disingenuous wings are in fact boneless chicken breasts "mangled into three, four, maybe even five reasonable wing facsimiles".  As Rayner writes, the increase in wholesale wing prices "has led to a bizarre situation where, to cut costs, many eating establishments are going to the effort of cutting up prime breast meat in vaguely wing-like shapes, deep-frying the chunks and selling them as "boneless chicken wings" – the culinary equivalent of turning gold into lead."

Long-time wing connoisseurs (and the guys behind hotwings.ca), Dave Taillefer and Michael Wynn, were asked for their insight into the industry.

Reactions were strong. "[A] disgusting farce", says Taillefer, while Wynn goes even further to say "[w]ith the boneless wings, you eat the damn things with a knife and fork, require no napkin and you look like a tool."

Read the full article at http://www.thestar.com/living/food/article/730330--keeping-abreast-of-wings