The Reason So Many Pizza Chains Also Serve Chicken Wings

Chicken wings and pizza chains seem to have become synonymous with one another. Just about every pizza place in the country offers both dishes on their menu, and diners seem to love it. But they aren't exactly dishes that come from the same background — after all, pizza is Italian (except for New York-style pizza, which isn't really Italian but a more Americanized variation), and deep fried chicken wings have their a background in Southern (American) cooking — at least until they morphed into the modern day Buffalo wing in Buffalo, New York, in the 1960s. So how — and why — did these two very unrelated dishes become such an iconic pairing?

Let's start by looking at how chicken wings were first introduced to pizza chains to begin with. Once upon a time, chicken wings were more of an afterthought. They were thought of as useless cuts of the bird, often thrown into a pot for soup, until 1964 when the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, started repurposing these pieces of chicken by frying them and pairing them with a spicy sauce. From there, a local parlor known as La Nova picked up on the sensation and began pairing these spicy little goodies with its popular dish: pizza. The pairing took off, and in the mid-1990s the combination began appearing in national pizza chains, like Pizza Hut and Dominos.  

From the nationwide pizza chain you may want to avoid to the chain we think is the best, you'll have no trouble finding delicious wings at pizza parlors. And the reasons why this iconic combination is such a hit are legion. In the simplest terms, it comes down to providing a variety of choices for customers. Not everyone likes pizza (hard to believe, right?), and not everyone likes the messiness of eating chicken wings, but by offering both, a pizza place has a better chance of hitting both target audiences and not losing out on a sale. 

As it turns out, this is only part of the story. Chicken wings aren't the only protein option on the market, but practicality is a big deal, especially when a restaurant wants to make a profit. Chicken wings are something of a no brainer: They don't require a lot of prep work to cook, they are a finger food just like pizza (thus no need to supply additional plates and utensils for either dish), and they both pair great with dipping sauces like ranch dressing. In other words, you don't need to stock a huge variety of ingredients. And as if that weren't enough, you can take two base ingredients (e.g., pizza crust and chicken wings) and turn them into myriad options without having to purchase, maintain, and operate a lot of different equipment. Pizza can have any number of topping combinations, and chicken wings can be turned into a variety of different recipes simply by tossing them in different sauces. The result is unbeatable profit for the chain, and unbeatable customer satisfaction for hungry pizza and chicken-wing lovers.