Chicken wing company thinks NFL protests to blame for declining sales

First pizza, now chicken wings.

Sanderson Farms Inc., one of the leading poultry producers in the United States, has experienced a decline in chicken wing sales in recent months and believes it may be the result of NFL players protesting during the national anthem.

"The only thing puzzling me right now is wings," Joe F. Sanderson Jr., chief executive officer of the namesake company, said Thursday on a conference call, according to Bloomberg's Megan Durisin.

"It's just been reported to us that some of our customers think that their traffic is down because of the demonstrations by some of the NFL players," he told Durisin in an interview after the call, adding that the increasing substitution of boneless wings has also impacted sales.

Sanderson shares fell 13 percent to $145.85 on Thursday in New York - the company's worst decline since August 2004.

Last month, Papa John's founder and CEO, John Schnatter, blamed the NFL's handling of player protests for his company's declining sales. Papa John's later released a statement apologizing for the comments.