A Kentucky man ordering traditional wings from Zaxby’s noticed a pricing discrepancy that left him questioning the math behind the fast-food chain’s menu. In his post, TikTok creator Alex (@igobuyalex) showed what he said were the prices for different quantities of Zaxby’s traditional wings. His comparison raised the question: Why would a customer buy 20 wings at once when two 10-piece orders appeared to cost dramatically less?
“I’m so confused right now,” Alex said at the beginning of the video. He then suggested that someone should “check on the financials guy or whoever at Zaxby’s” after noticing the different prices. As evidence, Alex shows what appears to be the Zaxby’s pricing on the website. According to Alex’s video, the menu showed five traditional wings for $9.99, while 10 wings cost $10. That meant a customer could get twice as many wings for just one additional cent.
The 20-piece option, meanwhile, appeared at $33.29. Alex walked through the math in the video, noting that someone wanting 20 wings could buy two 10-piece orders for $20 instead of paying $33.29 for the 20-piece option. Buying four five-piece orders would cost about $40. “None of that makes any sense,” he said.
Zaxby’s wing prices vary.
Current Grubhub listings show that Zaxby’s traditional-wing prices vary by location. At the Knightdale Boulevard location in Knightdale, North Carolina, five traditional wings are currently listed at $9.99, 10 at $18.19, and 20 at $34.39. At a Zaxby’s on SC-153 in Greenville, South Carolina, five cost $10.79, 10 cost $18.39, and 20 cost $34.19.
Those current prices differ from the unusual combination Alex showed in his July 29 video: $9.99 for five wings, $10 for 10 and $33.29 for 20. The current listings therefore do not independently confirm that the $10 10-piece price remains available.
Zaxby’s says most of its restaurants are independently owned and operated by third-party franchisees. The company’s Louisville location pages also direct customers to begin an order to see applicable menu prices. That franchise structure could explain why prices displayed online can differ from one restaurant to another.
Viewers offer their own theories.
The pricing discrepancy prompted viewers to speculate about why a restaurant would display such different prices. One commenter suggested the unusual pricing could be intentional marketing rather than a mistake.
The commenter theorized that customers might perceive the 10-piece option as an opportunity to “game the system,” potentially encouraging them to buy more wings than they originally intended. The commenter also pointed to the psychological effects that pricing strategies can have on consumers.
Another commenter recalled similar pricing for Burger King’s chicken nuggets. The commenter suggested that customers could get the best value by purchasing multiple orders of the mid-sized option.
The National Chicken Wing Day explanation.
There may be a simple explanation for the unusually low 10-piece price Alex saw: National Chicken Wing Day. The annual food holiday fell on July 29, 2026, the same day Alex uploaded his TikTok. Several 2026 deal roundups listed a Zaxby’s promotion offering 10 wings for $10 on National Chicken Wing Day, with some sources indicating the offer was tied to Zax Rewards.
The promotion would also fit Zaxby’s history of using National Chicken Wing Day to offer special deals. In 2023, for example, the company offered Zax Rewards members a buy-one-get-one deal on 10 traditional wings and noted that prices could vary by location.
That timing could explain why Alex’s 10-piece traditional-wing option appeared to cost just $10, or only one cent more than the five-piece option. However, Zaxby’s has not publicly confirmed that the $10 price Alex saw was for the promotion.
Zaxby’s chicken went viral recently for a different reason. Another TikTok creator alleged quality control issues with her fried chicken order, noting the chain had some “explaining to do.“
Published: Sep 5, 2026 12:40 pm