 Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth Interviews Himself:
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Howdy folks- Thanks for visiting Cluckbucket.com. Seriously, who ever thought that a website about chicken wings would come this far? Thank you all for your support. Several people have asked me what drives a person to create a website about chicken wings so I thought that I'd explain things by interviewing myself. Here goes: |
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| Scott Roth: Okay, so how did this whole Cluckbucket.com thing get started? | |||
| Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth: Well, about four or five years ago my brother, Steve, and I were really big into eating buffalo wings. We would cook them all the time and ate them at our favorite restaurant in the St. Louis area, Show-Me's. As we started to travel more and more, we decided that we never wanted to come across that awkward situation of not knowing where to get a good wing (because everybody fears that situation right?). From there the Internet Hot Wing Database was born, and the rest is history- | |||
| Scott Roth: Interesting, sad, pathetic, and bizare, but interesting. So, what/where is the best wing you've ever had? | |||
| Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth: Wow, tough question. I gotta say that the absolute best wing that I've ever had is at a place called DB's in St. Louis. Now, I'm probably going to catch a little bit of crap for this from wing enthusiasts out there because their wings aren't necessarily traditional, they have light breading and a little something extra in their sauce. Also, (and I know that this one will catch some flack for sure) I still contend to this day that nothing beats a perfectly prepared Hooters wing. A lot of times their wings either have too much breading on them, are mass prepared and under sauced, but man, when they are on, they are ON!!! | |||
| Scott Roth: What's been the most surprising thing that you've come across since founding Cluckbucket.com? | |||
| Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth: I'm constantly amazed at how quickly the wing has grown over the years. Just five years ago it was hard to find a good wing at a restaurant but now they are absolutely everywhere. There are even nationwide restaurants like Buffalo Wild Wings and the Wingstop that are primarily focused on the wing. I really think that the wing is well on it's way of making the move from the "appetizer" category to the "center of the plate protein" category. I'm also surprised at how much worthless crap I know about chicken wings. Finally, I'm surprised how many people out there are looking up information about wings. You, our visitors, absolutely rock. We wouldn't be anything without your wing reviews, recipes, eating techniques, etc... | |||
| Scott Roth: Can you help clear the air about the difference between buffalo wings and chicken wings? Aren't they the same thing? | |||
| Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth: I sure can and I think you'll find that it's pretty straightforward. The overall category is "chicken wings". Underneath chicken wings you have all of your different types of wings like "buffalo wings", "bbq wings", "teriyaki wings", "honey mustard wings", etc... The most popular by far are buffalo wings. They're called buffalo wings because they were believed to have been first served at the Anchor Bar and Grill in Buffalo, NY and they are traditionally cooked naked (no breading), deep fried, and then tossed in a sauce made of butter and hot sauce. See, it's simple! | |||
| Scott Roth: What has been Cluckbucket.com's most shining moment? | |||
| Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth: Hmm, tough question. Probably the day that we got picked up by CNN/Money Magazine as their fun site of the day. I woke up that morning and saw that we already had over 2,000 visitors to the site. I personally thought the service from our web analytics provider was just going haywire, but then my bro called and said that he got the newsletter and saw us in there. It was pretty cool. We've also had a lot of other cool stuff happening lately. I was interviewed by a couple of local newspapers recently about where to find wings in their city and also did an interview for EnRoute Magazine, the in-flight magazine for Air Canada about the popularity of the chicken wing and competitive eating. Hopefully I get some good pub from it! | |||
| Scott Roth: Okay, you hit on something there that I'm a bit curious about, why competitive eating? | |||
| Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth: Well, again, something that my brother and I had watched on television a couple of times and thought it was an absolute riot. Once the IFOCE guys started to get into eating wings, it just seemed like a natural fit. So, I went over to the National Rib Eating Championships one weekend and happened to get into a conversation with some of the big boys, Cookie, Gentleman Joe, The Bison, etc. We totally hit it off and they even knew about the Cluckbucket. So, I did some quick interviews and got in touch with some of the athletes and again, one thing just lead to another. I actually believe that I had a girl break up with me partially because of my fascination with Competitive Eating. Oh well, her loss I suppose- | |||
| Scott Roth: Well, it looks like we're almost out of time which sucks because you seem to have a lot to say about the wing. Let me get one more serious question in and then we'll wrap up with some quick hits. What is the strategic vision for Cluckbucket.com? | |||
| Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth: Down to business I like that, well, here goes. Right now were really working hard on simplifying and making the site much easier to use. This is a bit tricky because I'm the best webmaster that we can afford and I suck when it comes to graphic/web design. We also are trying to get involved in as many "wing events" as we possibly can. There have been a lot of things pop up over the past couple of years from local wing cooking and eating contests, to huge nationwide contests, all the way up the biggest one of them all, the National Buffalo Wing Festival held every Labor Day in Buffalo, NY. Look for our participation at these events to increase. We've looked at some other related but different industries such as BBQ, but for now we really want to stick to wings. We feel as if the wing boom is still in the early stages and we want to be the ones that both fuel the fire for growth and provide the best coverage of the wide world of wings. | |||
| Scott Roth: Sounds like a big challenge, good luck with that. Now down to the good stuff, Hooters or Buffalo Wild Wings? | |||
| Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth: Ugh! Don't make me choose! I guess I've gotta go with Hooters and hope that the cooks are up to their game that day. | |||
| Scott Roth: Breaded or naked? | |||
| Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth: Dang it! Stop it! The pressure is too much. Three years ago, breaded. Now, I guess I'd have to go with naked. | |||
| Scott Roth: Favorite hot sauce? | |||
| Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth: Easy question, Frank's Red Hot, there is no other- | |||
| Scott Roth: Wings or Drummies? | |||
| Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth: Because I follow proper wing etiquette I eat an equal amount of wing portions and drummy portions. As to which I prefer, probably have to give the nod to the wing portion. Which do I eat the most? Probably has to be drummies because my girlfriend likes the wing portions better and hasn't quite gotten a grasp of the whole "proper wing etiquette" thing yet (I'm just happy she likes wings!) | |||
| Scott Roth: How many years till wings are the most popular food on the face of the planet? | |||
| Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth: I don't know, maybe two or three? | |||
| Scott Roth: Final question, when it comes to stewed prunes are three enough? Are four too many? | |||
| Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth: You'll have to ask Fletch. | |||
| Scott Roth: Ew, ew, one last question, what should I look at next? | |||
| Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth: Now that's a good one, but a tricky one, I might be biased, but I suggest you try a couple of the following: | |||
| Back to the Cluckbucket.com Home Page | |||
| Cluckbucket.com's Internet Hot Wing Database | |||
| Cluckbucket.com's Hot Wing Dictionary | |||
| Cluckbucket.com's Daily Wing News and Events | |||
