Some McDonald’s stores test bone-in chicken wings

ATLANTA » McDonald’s is adding bone-in chicken wings to its menu in the Atlanta area, a move that could be big business for the poultry industry — including in Georgia, the nation’s No. 1 chicken producer.

The world’s largest burger chain — which often sells more chicken than its core product — is using Atlanta as a laboratory to test the wings because of its diverse population and a strong push from the Greater Atlanta McDonald’s Operators Association, the local franchisee group.

If the product — the chain’s first chicken with a bone — goes national, it could add millions in income for poultry companies because of the volume of business McDonald’s commands, experts said.

Georgia produces about 1.4 billion chickens per year, the most of any state, said Mike Giles, president of the Georgia Poultry Association. The industry has an annual impact of $18.4 billion in the state.

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