Across the United States, prices of chicken wings have shot up because farms are struggling to hire laborers. A restaurant owner told Business Insider that, “the chicken wing farms in America, they’re having trouble retaining and recruiting employees.”
At least two-thirds of all small restaurants said they can’t find enough staff, and half said it meant they were struggling to pay rent, according to Business Insider. As a result, prices of wings have gone up by 99 percent, making it the highest they have been in the last 33 years.
Rapper cum entrepreneur Rick Ross has taken up the challenge to address the shortage of wings by pushing chicken lovers to eat other parts like the thigh. For six years, he has been a franchise owner of Wingstop, one of many businesses in his portfolio.
Wingstop has launched a virtual brand called Thighstop as a response to the pandemic-related shortage. Thighstop is a digital offering selling thighs. Customers can order the newly launched menu via its website where the thighs can be picked up or delivered through DoorDash.
The Maybach Music CEO, as of 2019, had opened 28 Wingstop restaurants. For him, the business moves are not only economic but also to let people eat healthily. This lifestyle of the rapper was influenced by his own health crisis. In 2011, he had two seizures in one day, and in 2018, he was found unresponsive in his Florida home.
“I was suffering from seizures a few years back that’s why I really had to take control of my health, my weight, and my diet,” he said in an interview. “I still enjoy Wingstop so I had to be a leader and lead by example,” he admits. “I had a big seven-figure offer to help take a tobacco company to another level, but I don’t smoke cigarettes and I didn’t want to be a part of that so I had to turn that down.”
The rapper’s ambition is not only to fill the chick shortage gap but to influence his followers to fall in love with the juiciest part of the chick: the thigh.
“We back outside, and it’s time to take it to the next level,” Ross told yahoo sports in an interview. “We know how Wingstop perfected wings. Now, just imagine that juiciest part of the meat, and we boss it up, baby.”
In March, Face2Face Africa reported the Port of Miami rapper rented out his property to be used as the palace of Zamunda for the sequel of the popular comedy movie Coming 2 America. The rapper said he has made $2.7 million from renting out the mansion to movie producers.
Also, in a recent interview with Forbes, the Rich Forever rapper disclosed how he saves $1 million a year in maintenance costs for his 235-acre Georgia mansion. The rapper reportedly bought the large Fayetteville property in 2014 for $5.8m from retired legendary boxer Evander Holyfield. Besides its humongous compound, the mansion also has over 100 rooms as well as a 350,000-gallon swimming pool.
