Last year\u2019s champion Finn\u2019s Cafe 99 in Wilkes-Barre experienced an immediate surge in business after winning the inaugural contest, said owner Jimmy Finn.<\/p>\n
NEPA Chicken Wing Bulletin and its 25,500 followers are serious about their wings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was shocked and excited we won, but I didn\u2019t realize how it was going to change our lives. It literally changed our lives, I had to add staff. I went from one cook to now two or three, one bartender to two bartenders,\u201d Finn said.<\/p>\n
![\"Jimmy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/CVC-L-CHICKENWING-02.jpg\")
Jimmy Finn, owner of Finn\u2019s Cafe 99 in Wilkes-Barre, shows of last year award for winning inaugural Chicken Wing Madness voting contest organized by the NEPA Chicken Wing Bulletin. (Courtesy of Finn\u2019s Cafe 99)<\/p>\n
Finn\u2019s Cafe 99 squares off against the Big House in the first round of the Wyoming Valley bracket.<\/p>\n
Matty Centak of Hanover Twp., an administrator for the NEPA Chicken Wing Bulletin who helped compile the bracket, said he knows there are many worthy wing joints that didn\u2019t make the contest. He\u2019s been to many of them and has given them rave reviews.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was viral last year. I had people from Lackawanna County say they wanted to be involved, so we added a Lackawanna County bracket,\u201d said Centak said. \u201cAfter we did this year last people were contacting me saying their business was up, it doubles.\u201d<\/p>\n
NEPA Chicken Wing Bulletin launched nearly seven years ago and administrators of the page organized the popular Swoyersville Chick Wing Fling that is held every summer. Followers of the page often give recommendations and reviews on the site.<\/p>\n
A total of 64 businesses are in the Wing Madness 2026 competition, 32 in each bracket.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bragging rights thing for sure,\u201d Centak said. \u201cAt the end, it will be the Wyoming Valley vs. Lackawanna County for the \u2018King of the Wings.\u2019 You know those old WWF belts? We are getting one of those made up for the champion,\u201d Centak said.<\/p>\n
Participating bars & restuarants<\/p>\n
Wyoming Valley bracket: Kate\u2019s Place,\u00a0Checkerboard,\u00a0Hops and Barleys,\u00a0Pizza Perfect,\u00a0Murphy\u2019s,\u00a0T.C. Rileys,\u00a0Carey\u2019s Pub,\u00a0Rich and Charlotte\u2019s,\u00a0Bourbon City,\u00a0Pizza L\u2019Oven,\u00a0Uncle Buck\u2019s BBQ,\u00a0Tommy\u2019s,\u00a0Press Box,\u00a0Rec Room,\u00a0Bud\u2019s,\u00a0Lighthouse,\u00a0Whiskey Business,\u00a0Frog Pond,\u00a0Beer Boys,\u00a06 Strings,\u00a0Elmer Sudds,\u00a0Mountain Top Pub,\u00a0Town Tavern,\u00a0Newtown Cafe,\u00a0R Bar and Grill,\u00a0Chacko\u2019s,\u00a0Plains Pub,\u00a0Quality Times,\u00a0Finn\u2019s Cafe 99,\u00a0Big House,\u00a0Yosemite\u2019s,\u00a0Larry\u2019s<\/p>\n
Lackawanna County bracket: Kelly\u2019s Pub, Minooka Pub, Penalty Box,\u00a0Roosey Bar,\u00a01905 Tavern,\u00a0The Patch,\u00a0Dugout,\u00a0Rusty Nail,\u00a0Donkey,\u00a0Benny\u2019s,\u00a0Poor Richards,\u00a0Joyce\u2019,\u00a0\u00a0Haggerty\u2019s,\u00a0Bigsy\u2019s,\u00a0Zalenski\u2019s,\u00a0Kuzzin\u2019s,\u00a0Diskin\u2019s,\u00a0Barletta\u2019s,\u00a0Thirsty Elephant,\u00a0McGrath\u2019s,\u00a0Waldo\u2019s,\u00a0McGinty\u2019s,\u00a0Happy Valley,\u00a0Backyard Ale,\u00a0Peanut Bar,\u00a0Cabin,\u00a0Pepper,\u00a0Jaks,\u00a0Mickey Gannon\u2019s,\u00a0Dee Jays,\u00a0V Spot,\u00a0Glass Onion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who will be crowned the chicken wing king of Northeast Pennsylvania? The people behind the NEPA Chicken Wing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,803,139,28,435,178,180,179,289,181],"class_list":["post-125475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-luzerne-county","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-restaurants-food-and-drink","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-things-to-do","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}