The city that invented the chicken wing just proved it’s still the undisputed champion. Buffalo, New York made it into the Guinness World Records book last month by gathering 499 people to eat wings together at the Buffalo Convention Center. The previous record of 397 participants didn’t stand a chance when the Wing King himself showed up to host the record-breaking event.
- Buffalo set a new Guinness World Record on December 20, 2024, when 499 people participated in the largest chicken wing eating competition ever held.
- Competitive eater George Chiger won the competition after devouring 36 wings in five minutes, while the event broke the previous record of 397 participants set by Amazon Web Services in 2018.
- The record-breaking competition was part of the Revelas Family Foundation’s annual fundraiser that raised money for Horizon Health Services’ teen mental health program.
A City Built on Wings Makes History
Buffalo set a Guinness World Record for the largest chicken wing eating competition after 499 people participated in the record-breaking event at the Buffalo Convention Center on December 20, 2024. The competition was part of the Revelas Family Foundation’s annual fundraiser “A Not So Silent Night,” which raises money and awareness for mental health.
What makes this record especially fitting is that Buffalo is where the chicken wing was born. The “Buffalo wing” was invented at the Anchor Bar back in 1964, when owner Teressa Bellissimo created a late-night snack for her son and his friends. She deep-fried leftover chicken wings and tossed them in hot sauce, creating what would become America’s favorite appetizer. Now, over 60 years later, the city keeps finding new ways to celebrate its signature dish.
Picture nearly 500 people ready to chomp down on wings while an official Guinness World Records adjudicator watched to confirm everything counted. The energy at the Buffalo Convention Center must have been electric. An adjudicator from the record book was present to verify that the ravenous group had broken the previous record of 397, set by Amazon Web Services in 2018.
The Competition Gets Serious
While the crowd participation broke one record, individual competitors were battling it out for bragging rights too. Competitive eater George Chiger won the competition after devouring a whopping 36 wings in the allotted five minutes. That’s more than seven wings per minute, which is mind-blowing when you think about bones, sauce, and basic physics.
Drew Cerza, the self-proclaimed “Wing King” of Buffalo and founder of the National Buffalo Wing Festival, hosted the festivities. Cerza knows a thing or two about wing competitions. He created the National Buffalo Wing Festival back in 2002 after a newspaper columnist suggested Buffalo needed to honor its most famous creation. Since then, the festival has served millions of wings and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for local charities.
The competition format gave everyone five minutes to eat as many wings as possible. Whether you’re from Buffalo, Dayton, OH, or anywhere else in the country, eating three dozen wings in five minutes sounds like a superhuman feat. For serious competitive eaters like Chiger though, it’s all in a day’s work.
Supporting Teen Mental Health
The entire event raised funds and awareness for teen mental health through Horizon Health Services. The Revelas Family Foundation organizes their “A Not So Silent Night” fundraiser every year, but 2024’s event went bigger than ever before.
Participants paid to enter the competition, with spectators also able to buy tickets to watch the action unfold. Local vendors and restaurants set up at the event, and for those 21 and older, a three-hour open bar kept the party going. Breaking a world record creates buzz, gets people talking, and brings the community together. When you can do all that while supporting mental health programs for teenagers, you’ve created something that matters beyond the record books.
Buffalo Defends Its Wing Crown
Buffalo already hosts professional eating competitions every year at the National Buffalo Wing Festival at Sahlen Field, where the current individual record stands at 281 wings. That record, set by Geoff Esper in 2019, still hasn’t been touched despite multiple attempts by top competitive eaters.
Americans eat billions of chicken wings every year, with more than a billion consumed during Super Bowl weekend alone. But only one city can claim it invented them, hosts the biggest festival celebrating them, and now holds the world record for the largest wing-eating competition. Buffalo has earned its place as the undisputed wing capital of the world.
From Anchor Bar creating the original recipe to Drew Cerza building an entire festival around wings, to the Revelas Family Foundation organizing this massive record attempt, the city keeps finding new ways to celebrate what makes it special. Setting this new record at 499 participants shows how charitable fundraisers can dream bigger while getting attention for causes that desperately need it.
