To prove a point, this woman picked up a serving of chicken wings from Buffalo Wild Wings and another from a local restaurant. The sheer size difference between the wings will astound you.
In the viral TikTok, which has more than 1.5 million views as of Sunday, Audra (@becomingaudra) took it upon herself to confirm which place offers a better value: Buffalo Wild Wings or Gators.
“Feeling a little bored again today, so why don’t we go check out another chain restaurant that’s just straight up taking advantage of us?” she says as she pulls up to a Buffalo Wild Wings.
Now, this is personal for Audra, she said, since she worked at one of the chain’s locations back in college.
“Behold! The last Buffalo Wild Wings order you are ever going to see me have ever again because I will never go there again,” Audra said, holding a bag of the wings in her car.
After stopping by her local restaurant, Gators, also known as Buffalo Wild Wings’ competition in this case, she takes her boxes of wings home and sets them on the table side by side.
Even before opening the boxes, there seems to be a winner, but it’s super clear once she opens them.
On the right sits what can only be described as a mound of chicken wings thoroughly covered in sauce. Gators have even taken care to line their to-go box with aluminum to keep the wings warm on the drive home.
The Buffalo Wild Wings box sits on the left, looking rather puny and unappetizing in comparison.
The wings are noticeably smaller and look soggy as oppposed to the ones Audra picked up from her local restaurant.
@becomingaudra JUST WAIT until you see the side by side close up. Its unreal. #food #corporate ♬ Funny Song – Funny Song Studio & Sounds Reel
And it’s not like Buffalo Wild Wings’ was significantly cheaper to justify the quality difference.
Audra said she paid $20.03 at the chain restaurant and $17.09 at Gators. (Both orders seemingly came with fries and ranch.)
“[Buffalo Wild Wings] home of the micro wing,” Audra said at the end of the video.
The evidence cemented Audra’s point that people will likely get a better value (and support a small business) when they eat out at a local spot instead of a chain spot.
“Chef here. thank you for this. there’s great food just about everywhere if people take the time to look for it,” a commenter wrote.
Last week, another woman pointed out the ridiculous size difference between the frozen chicken wings at Costco versus the ones at Sam’s Club. Once cooked, Costco’s wing was about double the size of one from Sam’s Club.
But viewers were divided about which wholesaler’s chicken they’d buy. On one hand, the smaller wings might be an indication that they aren’t chock-full of hormones, something consumers may not be a fan of. On the other hand, wing lovers generally prefer their bite to contain more meat than bone.
People had lots of opinions in the comments section of Audra’s video.
“The entire food industry, grocery stores and fast food chains have turned to scammers! They down size the food and raise the prices for it,” a top comment read.
“Chains are so outa pocket and basically serving fast food on glass dishes now,” a commenter wrote.
“Your neighbor that owns the local diner needs your $20 lunch order more than the corporate place with microwaved food does!” a person pointed out.
Audra agreed, replying, “Exactly! Money for an actual family not a corporate machine.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Audra and Buffalo Wild Wings via email and to Gators via Instagram direct message.
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