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Chicken Thighs: The New Wings?

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After a year of pandemic upheavals, consumers are ready to spend, but supply chain challenges are causing shortages and price hikes in unexpected places, including chicken. Amidst this, there’s an interesting twist: the underappreciated chicken thigh. Henny Penny lays out some key information on their blog titled “Chicken Thighs: The new wings?“

The Chicken Shortage Scenario

Industry experts have been flagging low supplies and price increases in chicken since early last year. While chicken production stabilized, processing plants still face labor shortages. Plus, the frenzy for chicken sandwiches and wings continues to skyrocket demand, especially for wings.

Wing Consumption vs. Thigh Opportunity

Despite a dip in Super Bowl viewership, wing consumption hit a record high. But here’s a thought – for every pair of wings, there’s a pair of thighs, often overlooked and undervalued. Thighs sell for less and offer more meat, presenting an intriguing opportunity for restaurant operators.

Thighs: The Underestimated Choice

Chicken thighs don’t enjoy the same popularity in the U.S. as wings or breasts, largely due to limited marketing. Yet, taste tests show a preference for their moist, tender, and flavorful qualities. They’re perfect for savoring the natural taste of chicken.

Wingstop and Nathan’s Famous: Leading the Thigh Trend

Wingstop is incorporating thighs in their menu, while Nathan’s Famous is rolling out thigh-based chicken sandwiches. Thighs are proving versatile and flavorful, suitable for various culinary styles.

For the Small Operators: Thighs as a High-Margin Option

For smaller businesses, chicken thighs offer a profitable alternative. They can be prepared in numerous ways – fried, baked, grilled, or even as lollipop-style finger food. The key for operators is to create a signature thigh dish, promote it creatively, and tap into this untapped market.

Amidst the current chicken shortages, thighs present a cost-effective, delicious option that can diversify your menu and appeal to consumers’ evolving tastes. For more insights on frying techniques and menu innovation, exploring additional resources can be invaluable.

For more information on frying and understanding your options, click here. Or, if you’re already frying and want to analyze an existing program, check out our free download: The Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Frying Program (and how to fix them).

Originally published on www.HennyPenny.com
by Chef Gregg; Henny Penny Corporate Executive Chef

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The Ghost Kitchen Series: Velocity Pressure Fryer

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Our Velocity Pressure Fryer was made to sustain the highest-volume bone-in chicken programs, making it easy for wing-concept ghost kitchens to sacrifice two feet of wall space for extreme productivity.

Our Velocity series cooks 8-heads of chicken with 25% less oil than other high-volume fryers and provides up to four times longer oil life.

Batch cooking is a breeze when you combine a Velocity with any of our holding cabinets – Henny Penny sheet pans can be secured by a lip on top of the fryer.

Two half racks are then placed on each sheet pan and slid into the holding cabinet, allowing workers to skip re-racking and reducing product handling.

While product is being transferred to hold, Velocity filters automatically between every single load. Learn more about the Velocity series here.

The Ghost Kitchen Series: Evolution Elite (Single Well)

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In this series, we will highlight our top 4 best solutions for ghost kitchens.

Less is more with our single-well Evolution Elite, making it the ideal open fryer for any ghost kitchen. A smaller vat that requires 40% less oil means more ROI in the form of oil savings while maintaining the same throughput as a traditional 50 lb vat.

Employees won’t need to spend too much time taking care of the Evolution Elite – top-off-level sensors monitor the oil level and add fresh oil as needed, and Smart Touch Filtration alerts automatically with just one button-push required to activate a 4-minute filter cycle.

Models with two or more wells can filter one vat while cooking in another. Use a single-well fryer to prepare for the rush by pairing with SmartHold to cook in batches and hold for hours. Click here to learn more about the Evolution Elite open fryer.

The Ghost Kitchen Series: SmartHold Holding Cabinet

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In this series, we will highlight our top 4 best solutions for ghost kitchens.

In 2019, ghost kitchens (also referred to as dark kitchens and virtual kitchens) were simply an emerging trend to watch out for. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of these delivery-only kitchens in a big way. Just 15% of restaurant operators were using ghost kitchens before the pandemic, by May that number had risen to 51% (Technomic, 2020). The demand for off-premise dining options skyrocketed, creating an opportunity for operators to invest in ghost kitchens and even virtual brands.

The average ghost kitchen is only a few hundred square feet, meaning available space must be optimized and designed to operate with minimum labor. Luckily, the SmartHold Holding Cabinet can help with each of these factors while also making life easier for both operators and their staff.

Our SmartHold Holding Cabinet is just over two feet wide and can be configured half-sized to fit under a countertop or stacked to manage cooking in large batches. Precise humidity control sets SmartHold apart by creating the ideal holding environment for any food and keeping it fresh for hours instead of minutes. This holding cabinet also has proofing capabilities, saving operators the expense and floorspace of a separate proofing cabinet.

With SmartHold, ghost kitchens can also keep labor down by cooking and holding products before peak periods of high demand. We’ve got a couple of blog suggestions for anyone wanting more on SmartHold – learn more about optimal SmartHold settings for common menu items or discover more on how SmartHold brings value to any kitchen.

Win At Takeout With a Henny Penny EPC

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Grocery shopping and grabbing meals on-the-go aren’t as simple in a world changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now more than ever, people are looking for ways to make their lives easier. As a result, takeout has become increasingly popular and fast-food or dine-in restaurants aren’t the only places that can capitalize on this rise in demand. Imagine the relief of a grocery shopper who needs to pick up dinner on the way home when they come across a display containing rows of fresh chicken and sides while approaching checkout.

Henny Penny Express Profit Center

With a Henny Penny Express Profit Center (EPC), various business concepts with diverse menus can maximize takeout sales. Conventional self-serve heated merchandisers can’t avoid letting hot air out and cool air in. With Henny Penny, the FreshLock™ air curtain creates a thin wall of moving air that separates cool air in your store from hot food items in the unit.

The Right Fit

We never take a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to our customers. Different sizes, different widths, different shelf configurations… all the options that help you take advantage of impulse purchases throughout the store. Place EPC units as aisle end caps, along walls, or freestanding near checkout lanes.

Sustainable solid-state LED lighting offers brilliant product presentation with bright warm-white light, no flicker or buzz. Highly energy efficient, durable, safe to dispose but almost never need replacing. Other features include:

  • Heated shelves and deck with independent temperature controls
  • Black matte finish and stainless steel, with clear side panels for visibility
  • Easy mobility with available casters, 120 V compact plug-and-play unit

EPC’s are a perfect example of how various operations can win at takeout – it’s all about convenience and delicious food. Join the thousands of satisfied restaurant owners who trust Henny Penny quality and 24/7 global customer support.

Henny Penny Receives 2019 Kitchen Innovations Award

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Henny Penny has received a 2019 Kitchen Innovations (KI) Award from the National Restaurant Association for its Space$aver Team combi.

Unique in the U.S. market, the Space$aver Team combi combines two stacked, independently operated combis in a single frame and shell, with a single power cord and all the serviceable components centralized below. The 22”- wide footprint is topped with an integrated ventless hood using four-stage filtration for grease and vapors requiring no catalytic converter.

The Space$aver Team combi offers the versatility of two separate cabinets with independent, easy-to-use control systems in one integrated platform. Less than 22 inches wide with an integrated hood, the unit can be installed anywhere in the kitchen, and a jointless, one-piece construction makes it easier to install and maintain, unlike traditional stacked units.

The Space$aver Team combi, features a powerful four-stage filtration system to extract smoke, fat and odors — ensuring operators can cook different items simultaneously, without flavor transfer.

“Henny Penny understands operators and is committed to designing products that offer them greater flexibility, consistency and simplicity,” said Ares Marasligiller, Director of Product Strategy at Henny Penny. “Receiving this award speaks to how we are equipping kitchens to efficiently handle back-of-house challenges while addressing the long-term needs of the foodservice industry.”

The KI Awards honor forward-thinking equipment and technologies that increase efficiencies and productivity for back-of-the-house operations. Henny Penny’s recognized product will be on display in booth #4023, as well as the Kitchen Innovations Pavilion, at the 2019 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show held May 18-21 in Chicago.

For more information on Henny Penny and its line of innovative foodservice equipment, visit www.hennypenny.com.