It’s no secret that The Hamptons is an expensive place to be, as it’s often portrayed in pop culture as a summer getaway for glamorous New Yorkers looking for a city escape.
Instagram via @overheardnewyorkSituated all the way at the end of the Hamptons is Montauk, NY, an old Fisherman’s village that was once filled with run-down dive bars and local family haunts. But now, in recent years, Montauk has become another haughty Hamptons hotspot — especially at certain establishments.
A viral Instagram video is making the rounds that shows an order of chicken fingers and French fries priced at a truly mind-boggling price: $90 per order.
The tenders in question appear on the menu at the restaurant inside the Montauk Beach House, though they are not featured on the restaurant’s online menu.
The video was posted by the popular account @OverheardNewYork on Monday and has since garnered over 1.3 million views, receiving over 27.5 likes and, understandably, a slew of comments from viewers.
“$90 or a small investment in a free-range chicken farm,” the caption joked.
The menu reads that the order comes with 16 chicken tenders and French fries, which broken down, would equate to around $5.63 per tender if the fries were not counted.
Montauk Beach House did not return Entrepreneur’s request for comment on the price or popularity of the chicken tenders.
In comparison to other local hotspots like Duryea’s Lobster Deck and Bounce Beach Montauk, the price is staggering — Duryea’s chicken fingers go for $19 an order, while Bounce is slightly cheaper at $18.
It should be noted, however, that Duryea’s sells a $97 Lobster Cobb salad.
Granted, 16 chicken tenders is a hefty (some would say family-sized) portion. Most orders of chicken fingers at restaurants usually have between 4-5 tenders.
Even if the portion size of chicken fingers was tripled, tripling the price of the orders at Duryea’s and Bounce would still result in a total price per order that was around 33% less than the infamous $90 order.
“I’d kill and cook a seagull on the beach before I spend $90 for some Tyson chicken tenders,” one commenter joked.
“The sad part is people will pay for this insanity,” another pointed out.
Others blamed inflation among other food industry issues, though not all were in agreement.
“That is not inflation,” one Instagrammer said bluntly. “That is having to make enough revenue in 1/4 of the year to pay 12 months rent.”
Many restaurants have been feeling the heat when it comes to chicken dishes, as the chicken supply chain has been hit hard amid the pandemic.
Since chicken tenders require an extensive amount of packaging and processing, they are the most difficult to keep up with in the face of labor shortages and other pandemic-related issues that span the chicken supply chain.
The result has been skyrocketing poultry prices in both grocery stores and restaurants.
But for nearly $100, the chicken fingers have to be pretty clucking good.
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