A handful of Wall Street analysts just had a full-blown meltdown over chicken wings. Not a new tech IPO. Not an EV battery breakthrough. Wings. 

Specifically, Wingstop flippantly mentioned that it’s rolling out an AI-powered “Smart Kitchen” system, and analysts responded with a heavy dose of upgrade. The stock popped 7% on Wednesday. In today’s market, if your favorite toilet paper company so much as whispers the letters “AI,” there’s a decent chance some investment bank will throw you a buy rating without even checking the fundamentals.

Here’s what really blew minds on Wall Street: Wingstop has been operating with paper tickets for the last 30 years. Yes, while the rest of the world was streaming 4K movies to their smart fridges, Wingstop was running its kitchens like it was still 1994 and Saved By the Bell was everybody’s favorite show.

To be fair, the AI setup sounds fire. It pulls from over 100 data points… weather, local events, sports schedules, and possibly your horoscope… to predict demand in 15-minute increments. That means fewer surprises during rushes and much faster order times. How much faster you ask? The system has cut order times in half. On normal days, that’s 10 minutes instead of 20. On Super Bowl Sunday… AKA the Chicken Wing Olympics… delivery maxed out at just 16 minutes, instead of the usual “we’ll get it to you before the game ends, maybe” situation.

CEO Michael Skipworth told analysts, “We’re going to be able to not only increase speed, but be more consistent.” The company has already piloted the Smart Kitchen in over 200 restaurants, and the tech will be fully deployed across all U.S. locations by year-end. It’s already live in the Dallas/Fort Worth and Las Vegas markets, where customer satisfaction is supposedly up… along with “team engagement,” whatever that means. Because nothing boosts morale like an algorithm telling you when to drop a fresh batch of lemon pepper.

Naturally, analysts responded by trying to out-hype each other. Chris O’Cull at Stifel called it a “game changer,” which is what analysts say when they want to sound plugged into tech without having to explain it. Todd Brooks at Benchmark predicted this could push annual per-store sales from $2.1 million to $3 million… a 43% jump just because someone installed computers in the kitchen. Brian Harbour at Morgan Stanley chimed in to say Wingstop already scores high on brand loyalty and customer intent, so speeding up the food is just hot sauce on the already crispy drumstick.

The upgrades triggered a flurry of price target hikes. Barclays went from $310 to $360. BofA joined them at $360. TD Cowen hit $330. Wells Fargo bumped to $320. Guggenheim landed at $325. And Stephens & Co, always the early adopter, is sitting with a $385 target and an “Overweight” rating.

And get this… delivery now accounts for 30% of Wingstop’s sales, up from just 13% in 2019. Management thinks they can push that to 50% with this new tech. Essentially, they want to become a pizza chain… but better. Faster delivery means happier customers who are more likely to order again, which means more revenue. It also boosts their ranking in delivery apps like DoorDash, where being “fastest near you” is the new beachfront property.

Now, is Wingstop really worth 48 times earnings? Probably about as much as “boneless wings” are actually wings. (They’re chicken nuggets, folks. We all know it.) But in a market where adding “AI” to your pitch deck gets you a 20% boost, at least Wingstop is applying it to a real-world problem… getting hot food to hungry people, faster.

Stocks.News has positions in Wingstop, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and DoorDash.