The Char Report

Price ticker

  • Grocery wings $2.64/lb â–¼ 24.1%
  • Restaurant wing order $13.90 â–² 0.8%
  • Whole chicken $2.06/lb â–² 0.1%
  • Butter (sauce base) $3.96/lb â–¼ 17.3%
  • Flour $0.55/lb â–¼ 3.2%
  • Cheese (cheddar) $6.13/lb â–² 1.4%
  • Tomatoes $1.99/lb â–² 4.3%
  • Eating out (CPI) +3.5% YoY

Wing & Pizza Price Trends

UPDATED MONTHLY

What wings and pizza actually cost right now, at every point in the supply chain — wholesale, grocery, restaurant, takeout — with real sources for every number. Last refreshed October 2026. Previous version: August 2026 snapshot.

What Changed Since August

  • Grocery wings got cheaper. Advertised grocery prices for party wings (flats and drums) averaged $2.64/lb in September 2026, down 12.6% from August and 24.1% from a year earlier. That’s the lowest point of the year.
  • Restaurant wings didn’t move. The median order at Toast restaurants was $13.90 in August 2026, up just 0.8% year over year. It’s been stuck in a $13.71–$13.92 band since June 2025. Cheaper wings at the store still aren’t showing up on menus.
  • Wholesale is flat. As of early October, small and medium wing prices were unchanged week to week and jumbo wings slipped slightly, with buyer demand described as “flat.” Wholesale started 2026 under $1.00/lb and had only crept to a bit over $1.10/lb by early in the year.
  • Pizza chain prices: not re-checked. I couldn’t find a newer source I trust for posted chain prices, so the pizza chart below is still the August numbers.

Sources: MeatSmokingCalculator — Meat Prices September 2026 (USDA AMS retail feature data); Toast Menu Price Monitor — August 2026; US Foods Farmer’s Report — Chicken (Oct 2, 2026); Alabama Cooperative Extension (USDA AMS wholesale data).

Current Price Comparison

Wholesale, grocery, and restaurant prices side by side, as a range (they vary by market and week). Restaurant is shown per-wing to make it comparable.

$0 $1 $2 $3 $4 $5 Wholesale ($/lb) $1.10–$1.90 Grocery ($/lb) $2.50–$5.00 Sept avg $2.64 Restaurant (per wing, $) $0.75–$1.50

Source: LatestCost — Average Cost of Chicken Wings (grocery & restaurant per-wing ranges); Toast POS restaurant data; wholesale figure per the chart source below. Black tick on the grocery bar: September 2026 average advertised price, per MeatSmokingCalculator (USDA AMS data).

Wholesale Wing Prices, 2015–2025

Annual composite wholesale price per pound (USDA Agricultural Marketing Service data). The 2021 spike and 2023 correction are the standout features — wings are one of the more volatile items in the food supply chain.

$0.00 $1.00 $2.00 $3.00 $2.82 $1.15 $1.10 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

Source: The Chicken Wing Index — 2015–2025 Price Tracker, USDA Agricultural Marketing Service data. Also see Feedstuffs and Texas A&M AgriLife for 2026 commentary.

Large Takeout Pizza, by Chain

Chain menu pricing, not a regional average — actual posted prices. Not re-checked for October; these are the August 2026 numbers. Regional averages run $15–25 depending on state, with Hawaii, California, and Alaska the priciest.

$0 $5 $10 $15 $20 $25 $5.99 Little Caesars $10.00 Papa Murphy’s $12.99 CiCi’s $18.99 Pizza Hut (cheese) $21.48 Pizza Hut (pepperoni)

Source: The Takeout — Cheapest Pizza Chains of 2026 (chain prices); NetCredit — Cost of Pizza by State and City (regional averages).

Full Snapshot Table

WherePriceNotes
Wholesale (per lb)~$1.10–$1.90Sources disagree within this range depending on methodology/week. Early-October market commentary: flat, with jumbo slightly lower.
Grocery store (per lb)$2.50–$5.00Frozen runs $2.50–$3.50; fresh/organic $4.50+. Advertised party-wing price averaged $2.64/lb in Sept 2026 (−24.1% YoY).
Restaurant (per order)$13.90 median (Aug 2026), ~$15 during Super BowlPer-wing works out to roughly $0.75–$1.50 depending on the place.
Takeout pizza (large)$15–$25Little Caesars ($5.99) to Pizza Hut ($19–21) to regional averages near $20 in expensive states.

Honest caveat on wholesale: sources disagreed on the exact 2026 figure (~$1.10–1.12/lb vs. $1.91/lb reported for June 2026), so it’s shown as a range rather than false precision. I couldn’t pull a fresh per-pound USDA wing quote for this October update, so the range is carried over from August.

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