Supply Chain Crisis Leads To Shortage Of Chicken Tenders, Second Chicken Shortage In 2021

One of the staples of young Americans’ diets, chicken tenders, is the latest victim of the supply chain crisis.

According to a report from NBC’s “Today Show,” chicken tenders, which are fillets cut from the breast of a chicken, are in short supply.

Tenders are different from chicken nuggets, which are made from scrap meat from the whole chicken. Because the tenders take more work to produce, they can be harder to find or more costly, experts told “Today.” The average price of a value pack of whole chicken breast tenderloins has risen nearly a dollar per pound since last year, from $3.02 per pound in 2020 to $3.99 this year.

The shortage has actually prompted several chicken restaurant chains, such as KFC and A&W, to stop featuring chicken tenders in their advertising campaigns in order to avoid selling out of them in their restaurants.

Hattie B’s, an iconic chicken restaurant based in Nashville, Tennessee, is dealing with the chicken shortage as well. “There is no safe harbor in the supply chain right now,” Brian Morris, vice president of culinary, learning and development at Hattie B’s, told “Today.” “We see it across the board, but certainly you feel the pain the most in tenders.” – READ MORE