(NewsNation Now) — Chicken wings, beer, chips and dips — they’re all Super Bowl favorites. But these, and other staples on your list for this Sunday might be more expensive this year.
According to a report by financial services company Wells Fargo, it could cost about 8% to 14% more this year to put out your Super Bowl spread than last year, depending on what you buy.
Chicken wings, per the USDA, have seen their prices go up by 12% since last year at $2.98 a pound. At the time the report was published last month, they had increased by as much as 26% in some places.
Other foods, such as potato chips at 1%, showed a much milder increase compared to 2021. Altogether, appetizers didn’t have too bad a price increase compared to other foods. Chips, dips and vegetables are up about 2% to 5%, the report said. But some dips, including guacamole, may be pricier than others.
Bloomberg reported in February that avocados are the most expensive they’ve been in two decades, though the publication added that the fruit typically sees a price surge in the weeks before the Super Bowl. Avocados on average will cost $1.24, up 5.6%
“It’s not that we have a lack of food ingredients that’s pushing up food prices here in the United States,” Michael Swanson, Wells Fargo chief agricultural economist, said. “We’re very blessed to have all the raw product we need. It’s that labor and the factories and packaging and transportation have all really shot up. Those things are really double-digit more expensive.”
Beer prices, because of modest demand strength and higher input costs, are up 4% from a year ago, per the report. Soft drink prices jumped for 2-liter bottles and 12-packs by 12% and 6%, respectively.
Just getting to your Super Bowl destination could require an audible because last year gas was at $2.45 a gallon on average. Now, it might leave you scrambling with the average gallon costing $3.47.
Price increases aren’t a new phenomenon — supply chain issues, inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic have all been blamed for them.
Inflation, in particular, has been on many people’s minds as it has soared over the past year to its highest rate in four decades, the Associated Press reported.
On Thursday, the Labor Department said consumer prices jumped at an annual pace of 7.5% last month. That’s the steepest year-over-year increase they’ve seen since February 1982.
“As we see people come back to work, as COVID eases, as we see more trucks back on the road, get some of the things from weather behind us, hopefully we’ll see some of these food prices actually come back down,” Swanson said.
Even with prices going up, consumers still plan on spending at least $14.6 billion in total on the Super Bowl, according to the National Retail Federation.