Test your appetite at wing-eating contest

For almost 25 years, people come to Frank's for the Memories to eat pounds of buffalo wings.

Now owner Jim Schultz Jr. is asking eaters: How many wings can you really eat?

While he laughs as he gives sympathy to chickens, Schultz will hold the Mundelein restaurant's first wing-eating contest Saturday.

Still considered a mom-and-pop restaurant, Schultz said he wants to hold a wing-eating contest to be one of the few in the Chicago area to offer this type of competition.

"I want to take the bull by the horns and be the restaurant that is known for this before anyone else," Schultz said. "I want to put the restaurant on the map."

Wing Sling, which will also feature music, storytelling and more, will run from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday. Frank's for the Memories is at 645 E. Hawley, Mundelein.

Wings are a big key to success to the restaurant, which was started by his parents, Jim and Carol Schultz. Schultz Jr. attributes selling eight cases a day and over 7,000 pounds over the Super Bowl weekend to consistency.

Schultz Jr. said the wings will be covered in their medium level sauce to give competitors a fair chance.

"We'd like to start our own little record," he said. "We'd like to make this an annual event and make it bigger every year."

The competition will begin at 5 p.m. and is limited to 12 people ages 18 and older. The entry fee is $35 per person.

"We want serious competitors, someone that will give it a shot," he said.

Each competitor will start with three pounds of wings and 15 minutes to eat as much as they can. Each plate of wings will be weighed before the contest begins.

Then, a basket where the bones are discarded will be weighed and that amount will be subtracted from the original weight. That will determine how much each person ate.

Cash prizes and trophies will be awarded to first-, second- and third-place winners.

Wings will not be the only attraction as Schultz said he wants the event to be family-friendly fun. Other attractions will include live music from 1 to 8 p.m. and storytelling starting at 3 p.m.

For information and to obtain an entry form, call Frank's for the Memories at (847) 949-9464 or visit the Web site at www.900club.org.