ANKENY, IOWA — Known for pizza, Casey’s General Stores Inc. is introducing chicken wings. The wings and french fries are available in about 225 convenience stores in Des Moines, Iowa, and the surrounding area, covering both urban and rural environments, said Darren Rebelez, president and chief executive officer.

“We just did a soft launch in the Des Moines market in January and then started to advertise in February,” he said in a March 12 earnings call to discuss financial results for the third quarter ended Jan. 31. “We’re very pleased with the results so far, really high satisfaction scores from the guests. So we feel confident that we’ve got the product right.

“We’re still working through some operational kinks as you would expect when you test things, but I feel really good about this, and what we’re seeing so far is that this isn’t really cannibalizing the pizza business. This is actually contributing an incremental, call it an incremental night per week or an incremental visit from our guests, which is exactly what the goal was.”

Inside same-store sales of $1.40 billion in the third quarter marked a 3.7% increase from $1.21 billion in the previous year’s third quarter. The prepared food and dispensed beverage category drove inside sales, Rebelez said, while hot sandwiches and bakery performed well.

He was asked about a potential recession during the earnings call. Rebelez said that Casey’s generally has lower prices than an equivalent quick-service restaurant.

“And so, as consumers start to look for value, we’re a great trade-down opportunity from a price perspective, but not a trade down in quality,” he said.

Pizza prices also came up in the call.

“I think we’re still in a good spot from a value proposition standpoint when we look at our pizza business,” Rebelez said. “On the one hand, only about half of our stores even have a national brand competitor in their trade area, so we don’t really have to go head-to-head with somebody that might be a little more promotional in about half of our stores, and the other half where we do have a national brand competitor, we typically are $1 or more below on a typical menu price versus those competitors.”

Companywide, Ankeny-based Casey’s had net income of $87.10 million, or $2.35 per share on the common stock, in the third quarter, which was up 0.2% from $86.93 million, or $2.34 per share, in the previous year’s third quarter. Revenue was $3.90 billion, up 17% from $3.33 billion.

Over the first nine months of the fiscal year, net income was $448 million, or $12.08 per share on the common stock, up 8% from $415 million, or $11.15 per share, compared to the first nine months the previous fiscal year. Nine-month revenue rose 6% to $11.95 billion from $11.26 billion.

Same-store inside sales over the nine-month period increased 3.1% to $4.34 billion from $3.93 billion. For the fiscal year, Casey’s expects same-store inside sales to increase 3% to 5%.