Duval County

Local restaurant promises plenty of chicken wings despite challenges

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — You may have noticed your annual Super Bowl party cost more this year or your favorite football staple on the menu is out of stock.

As we continue to fight the pandemic, local businesses are still fighting supply chain issues, staffing shortages and inflation.

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It takes a lot of prep heading into the Super Bowl.

At Sneakers Sports Grille in Jax Beach, it starts at 9 a.m. in the kitchen and months before getting all the necessary food items.

“We normally would be able to do this stuff just these past couple weeks. This time around we did it months ago,” Sneakers bartender Matthew Wander said.

Preparing for a big event like Sunday took longer this year because of continued supply chain issues.

Employees said they had to bounce around between vendors to get what they needed.

“We had issues finding wings for a while. we’ve had issues with liquor, different liquors have been out at the distilleries,” Sneakers General Manager Randall Roberts said.

Sunday’s menu had burgers, wings, and inflation.

Action News Jax first told you when inflation hit its highest rate in four decades.

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“The prices from most of our vendors have gone up. They’ve gone up incrementally since COVID hit,” Wander said.

Employees said vendors have raised item prices around 20%.

When those prices go up, menu prices must follow — and customers notice.

“Prices have been going up all summer. We got priced out of crabs and crab cakes up in Maryland this year,” customer Ron Roland said.

Even so, Sneakers made it happen so folks could dig into their wings, burgers, and more this Super Bowl Sunday.