Chicken wings are usually a party favorite.

“Back in the day, chicken wings used to be 10 cents a wing,” said Frank Scavio, who owns Paesan’s Pizza and Restaurant with his two brothers.

But chicken wing prices are climbing, and the supply chain is slow. It’s wreaking havoc for business owners.

“Inflation is killing us,” Scavio said.

Scavio and his brothers have navigated the post-9/11 days, the 2008 financial crisis and most recently, a pandemic.

“It’s part of business,” he said.

They’re used to fluctuating prices, but not to this extent.

“The increases are not the normal three to four percent,” he said. “They’re double digits, 10%, 15%, or 20%.”

Scavio says it costs him about $7 for a pound of wings, and that’s not including everything else that goes with an order of wings.

“So now, you have $7 in wings, you got 30 to 40 cents in a container, you got the blue cheese is another 50 cents, carrots and celery, so now we’re at eight bucks without an employee even touching it yet,” he said.

It’s forced Scavio and his brothers to make some tough decisions at the register with price increases in January, and more potentially coming this summer.

“If you remember back in the day, a large pie, 20 wings, 20 bucks,” he said. “We’re at $45 to feed a family.”

He calls it a loss leader scenario for now as he tries to avoid placing the burden on his customers.

“There is only so much our businesses can take,” he said. “I don’t know what the solution is, but something's got to give before it gets worse.”