Wingstop Sells 2.5 million Wings on Super Bowl Sunday; Exceeds Predictions - Franchisewire.com

Even more Super Bowl success stories: apparently the Wingstop sold 2.5 million wings across their 260 locations. Earlier they had projected selling 2.2 million so the day was definitely a big success for them.

WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Superbowl Sunday Marks A Boom for Local Businesses

Not only was the SuperBowl a huge day for the Cluckbucket and many local wing/pizza joints, but did you know that over 11 million pounds of potato chips were consumed on the big day? This article shows more SuperBowl impact and details how busy a local BW3 was during the day.

ARTICLE: Chicken wings taste test: Bad to the bone (The Virginian-Pilot - HamptonRoads.com/PilotOnline.com)

Here's an interesting little article about a newspaper sponsored wing taste test in Virginia Beach. Nice to hear stories about other lovers of the wing...

Cluckbucket: Chicken Wing Joint of the Year

We just opened up the polls for our first ever Cluckbucket.com Wing Joint of the Year contest. The winner will be determined by 100% by the visitors to Cluckbucket.com and any wing joint in the United States is eligible.

Cast your vote today and be sure to tell all of your friends to nominate their favorite. Please hurry, the polls will close at midnight (pacific time) on Tuesday, March 14th.

Vote Now

Peace, love, and grease!

Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
www.cluckbucket.com

Super Bowl Spikes Web Traffic for Cluckbucket.com

Everybody knows that football and chicken wings go together, but what you may not know is how big of an impact the Super Bowl (the football game of all football games) has on the world's top provider of chicken wing recipes, restaurant reviews, and other wing information. Using the online marketing analytics service provided by WebTrends I'm able to share some specific impact on how big of a boost the Super Bowl was for Cluckbucket.com. Here are some figures:

First let's take a look at some trends comparing the week of 1/23-1/29 (a pretty typical week) to the week of 1/30-2/5 (the week leading up to and including the Super Bowl).

• Number of "Unique Visitors" - Increased 142% (from 586 to 1,422)
• Number of "Pages Viewed" - Increased 180% (from 1,661 to 4,647)
• Number of "Visitors who visited more than once" - Increased 120%
• Number of "New Visitors" to the site - Increased 153% (from 522 to 1,325)
• Number of "Returning Visitors" to the site - increased 70% (from 54 to 92)

It's important to note that I didn't do any form of out of the ordinary marketing to new or existing visitors during this timeframe, so it is safe to say that most of the growth listed above is organic based on customer demands, not my proactive demand creation. As you can tell, this week was huge from a standpoint of increasing overall visitors to the site, and even better for attracting valuable new visitors, let's just hope that they found what they were looking for and had a good first impression...

Speaking of what they were looking for, now I'll take a quick look at the week prior to and including the Super Bowl in isolation to share with you a little bit more about who these visitors were, and what they were doing on the Cluckbucket:

• The most popular content on the site was by far the "recipes" area. Overall, the recipe homepage and 12 individual recipe pages on the site were viewed a total of 2,164 times during the week which represents a 230% increase over an ordinary week.
• Getting people down to the point in the site where they view an actual wing recipe is something that I define as a critical conversion event. My site conversion rate for this event for the week was a whopping 53% (786 recipe visits divided by 1,469 overall site visits)
• Wrapping up on the recipes thread, one of the nice things that WebTrends gives me (that I've heard other providers can't do) is some unique breakdowns for specific pages on my site. For example, I've already told you that the recipes area of my site performed well over the Super Bowl, but what I really want to know is additional detail about the recipe home page, http://www.cluckbucket.com/recipes/recipes.htm: WebTrends tells me that this page was viewed 1,319 times, by a total of 512 visits, and 496 individual unique visitors. They also let me know that this page was the entry page for visitors 380 times and that while most people went from this page on to visit actual recipe pages, other visitors to this page were interested in my home page as well as my Internet Hot Wing Database (which are two other key areas of my site).
• Last but certainly not least, I want to know how all of these visitors got to my site in the first place. As you can recall from earlier on, I didn't do any email, paid search engine, or other marketing campaigns during this timeframe so the most likely place to look is traffic from organic/natural search listings. As usual, the big three search engines were responsible for referring the bulk of the traffic throughout the week; Google - 463 visits, Yahoo - 327 visits, and MSN - 312 visits. It's interesting to note that I do a lot better on what I consider core search phrases (like "chicken wings" and "chicken wing recipes") on Yahoo and MSN, but my phrases referred from Google seem to be more sporadic. Overall, "chicken wing recipes" was responsible for sending the most traffic to my site, to a tune of 129 visits (mostly from Yahoo and MSN where I perform in the top 5 listings).

So, I guess looking at the top content that people were hitting and the top search engine referrals all makes sense when I look at it together. Wing recipes are what everybody is looking for to make an solid contribution to their Super Bowl festivities.

Aren't you hungry for some wings now? Check out the Wing Recipes page to make some yourself or to the Internet Hot Wing Database to find a wing-focused restaurant near you!!!

Peace, love, and grease!

Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth

www.cluckbucket.com

More Wing Bowl Coverage

On a Chicken Wing and a Prayer - Los Angeles Times

More coverage on Wing Bowl. This is a great article that gives some scoop on how Philly can't seem to fill the Wachovia Center for basketball or hockey. Pretty good read.

Chaos in Philly

Philadelphia Inquirer 02/03/2006 Joey Chestnut wins Wing Bowl

Newbie Joey Chestnut used a last round surge (not purge) to edge out the crafty veteran Rich "The Locust" LeFevre in a Wing Bowl of epic proporations this morning. Chestnut, who qualified for the event by chugging a gallon of milk in 42 seconds, not only won, but set a new Wing Bowl record by consuming 173 wings over the 30 minute duration. Chestnut was a steady competititor putting away 83 wings in the first round, finishing the second round with a total of 155 knocked back, and then putting the icing on the cake with an additional 18 wings during the final elimination.

Apparently the scene was as utterly chaotic as usual. Wing Tut was eliminated due to regurgitation, the new Miss Wingette was chosen from a field of 75, and in a moving and emotional ceremony between rounds one and two, Bill "El Wingador" Simmons was inducted into the Wing Hall of Fame. Simmons is by and large the most accomplished Wing Bowl comptetitor of all time, holding five championship crowns.

Here's a blog that covered the event live at the Wachovia Center.

Philly.com 02/02/2006 Wing Bowl odds announced

They just released the vegas odds for tomorrow's event. If "The Locust" that is listed is Rich "The Locust" LeFevre, then he's getting all my money. At 5-1 odds, The Locust is an absolute steal!

Read more about the Locust

View all the competitors

Wing Bowl -- Philly.com

Alas, another Super Bowl is upon us and with that comes an even bigger event for the world of wings, the Wing Bowl. Now in it's 14th year, the annual event at the Wachovia Center in Philadephia (where until last year they had no real reason to watch the Super Bowl and hence invented the Wing Bowl) merges two of my favorite things, competitive eating and of course wings.

This organizers has shifted thing up this year in two big and notable ways. First, they have dubbed this year a "Virgin Wing Bowl" in that no prior participants are allowed to perform in the contest. Apparently they were sick of Sonya Thomas and El Wingador (Bill Simmons) beating up on the rest of the field each year. Second, they are now charging a $5 admission fee instead of the event being free. We'll see how these changes go, the big event is tomorrow morning...

Peace, love, and grease!

Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
www.cluckbucket.com

Bulgarian Diva Wins Glutting Race

The competitive wing eating circuit has officially crossed over into Europe. There was a charity competition in Bulgaria today and the winner was a surprise, a popular television actress.

Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth

Quick update on Cluckbucket T-Shirts through CafePress.com. I just got my first order in the other day. I ordered the Cluckbucket "Trendy" White T-shirt and it is defintely a sweet shirt. It has a nice lightweight feel to it and is in the style of the new "vintage" t-shirts you see around.

I also ordered the Cluckbucket Long Sleeve T-Shirt and it is pretty sweet as well. It's printed on a Hanes Beefy T which is very good quality.

As for the printing method, I selected both direct printing and heat transfer to see what the difference is. The heat transfer definitely looks better initially, the clarity on the logo is great and the colors are top notch. The kicker is that it is potentially going to fade or crack over time. I'll post another note in a couple of months or so when I actually wash it for the first time. :-)

As for the direct printing the logo's don't look good at all, it is faded and I wouldn't recommend it even though they say it is the recommended best method. I suppose it will last longer over time because it is actually embedded into the fabric versus being heat printed on the top of it...

Well, there's your review, hope you, your family, and all your chicken wing friends enjoy their shirts!!!

Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth

http://www.cafepress.com/cluckbucket

Cluckbucket.com t-shirts are back thanks to our new partnership with CafePress! We've got everything set up and you can order direct at the link above. Tell all your friends, "trendy people wear Cluckbucket t-shirts"...

2 On Your Side - News

Yep, it looks like it is true, they are planning different formats from an "Express" version that will appear at Food Courts to full-blown replicas of the original Anchor Bar. This is such an interesting move and an unbelievable day for the world of wings!!!

Anchor Bar going national with franchises

Stop the presses! This is huge news! Can it be that the original home of the buffalo wing is going to go nation-wide with franchises? This is the first I've heard of this development so please post a note if you know anything about this. I'll post more info as soon as I know anything...

HeraldNet: Speed eaters wing their way to victory

Wing event held this past weekend in the Seattle area. It'm particularly pleased that both competitive eating and the love of the buffalo wing have started to spread out to the Pacific Northwest. Seattle actually has a couple of really good wing joints with Wing Zone and the locally owned/operated Wingdome. This is a good step in the right direction and hopefully will bring Seattle area wing lovers together.

Wing Scene Heating Up in Portland, OR!

It's been confirmed that there is a new guy coming to the block on September 6th. A Slice of Buffalo: Pizza and Wings will be piggybacking off the roaring success of Fire On the Mountain and taking the Portland wing scene up one notch. A Slice of Buffalo will be located in the downtown area at 12th and Jefferson and will cater mostly to the carryout crowd with a few seats available for dine in.

I stopped by today for a sneak peak where I was greeted by the owner Jack. He promised me a focus on simplicity, value (read, good prices!), and a focus on TRADITIONAL buffalo wings. The wings will be deep fried, naked, and come in one of four sauces with various heat ranges. They also are going to offer lunch specials that offer either individual items or combinations of pizza, wings, fries, and salads.

I personally can't wait till Tuesday!

Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth

Wingstop Opens 250th Restaurant

Wingstop Celebrates 250-Store Milestone; Nation's Leading Chicken-Wing Chain Sets Sights on 500 in 2007

The Wingstop just continues to grow and grown opening celebrating the openin of it's 250th wing restaurant. The chain has pushed it's way into the list of the top growing restaurants in the US and expects that it will have 500 locations by 2007.

Selfish Plea: Someone, please open up a Wingstop in Portland, OR; I love their chicken!!!

Peace, love, and grease!

Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
www.cluckbucket.com

4th Annual National Buffalo Wing Festival Takes Flight

National Buffalo Wing Festival

The 4th Annual National Buffalo Wing Festival kicks off this holiday weekend in Buffalo, NY. The organization team lead by Drew Cerza, the "Wing King" have lined up another jam packed weekend of buffalo wing fun. The list of events includes the .5K Wing Run, Chicken Wing Eating, Most Creative Wing Sauce, Traditional Wing Sauce, Miss Buffalo Wing, Blue Cheese Bowl, Baby Wing, Mega Car & Truck Show. Oh, and how could we forget to mention a performance by two of the people from the Real World - Austin. I'm not quite sure yet what they are going to be performing or why they are are even going to be there, but I'm sure it will draw in some form of a crowd. I think they should both be forced to enter the wing eating contest and go side-by-side against Cookie, Booker, Sonya and the rest.

This wing festival is a can't miss event if you live in the area (or just want to get away for a while). You'll be treated to wings from over 20 different vendors and get to see the interworkings of the wing industry at it's finest.

Peace, love, and grease!

Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
www.cluckbucket.com

Upcoming Movie about the Wing Bowl?

Our sources indicate that there is an upcoming film in the works that will center around the wildly popular Wing Bowl. The Wing Bowl is the annual event held at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia in which several contestants participate in an all-out, 30 minute wing eating battle. Apparently the film will center around Bill "El Winador" Simmons, the longime champion of the event. Stay tuned for more...

1st Ever "Wing Tasting"

Suns announce "Wing Fling 2005" - OurSports Central

Following on the widespread popularity of wine tasting events the Hagerstown Suns, a Mets class A affiliate in Maryland, have scheduled the first ever "wing tasting" event. While there have been plenty of wing-offs in the past, this is the first time I've ever heard it called a wing tasting. They will have about ten restaurants competing for the ilustrious best wing title. Go check it out on July 22nd from 6:00-10:00. Thanks for the lead Wade!

Peace, love, and grease!
Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
www.cluckbucket.com