It’s that time of year when a lot of people hunker down indoors to watch sports and eat chicken wings. Just as sports enthusiasts choose a team, wing enthusiasts choose their type of chicken wing, either bone-​in or boneless, says The NPD Group, a global information company.

With 45 percent of the population ordering chicken wings at restaurants and foodservice outlets and servings on the rise, it behooves restaurant operators to know who is on team bone-​in and who is on team boneless. And the most popular type of chicken wing is…: bone-​in. The demand for bone-​in chicken wings is strong. Over sixty percent of wings served at restaurants are bone-​in. Further, over the past year, servings of bone-​in were up six percent while declining by a similar rate for boneless, according to a new NPD study entitled, The Chicken Wing Dilemma.

Restaurants serving chicken wings can promote them to Online Food Orderers. The new AudienceSCAN survey revealed 24.5% of U.S. adults used the internet via browser, tablet, smartphone or other connected device to order food from a restaurant in the past 30 days.

The NPD study, which is based on its Checkout consumer receipt harvesting service, examines the purchase patterns of wing buyers and how restaurant operators react to fluctuating wing prices. Wing prices increased during the summer while the demand remained high but prices declined over the past three months. Boneless wings are more heavily promoted over bone-​in wings when prices are high.

Enticing Online Food Orderers through TV commercials featuring steaming-​hot wings should be a no-​brainer. The latest AudienceSCAN study found 43% of Online Food Orderers took action after seeing TV ads in the past month.

“Foodservice operators and suppliers offering chicken wings need to understand purchase patterns of wing buyers in order to menu appropriately, price accordingly, and tailor marketing to grow in the headwinds of price increases,” says Bonnie Riggs, NPD’s restaurant industry analyst.“Most wing buyers aren’t fair weather fans; they are super fans who stick with one type of wing regardless of price.”

AudienceSCAN data is available for your applications and dashboards through the SalesFuel API. Media companies and agencies can access AudienceSCAN data through the AudienceSCAN Reports in AdMall.