Chicken Wing Restaurants Expand In Sacramento
Parts is parts.
But who would have thought the most meager part of a chicken – the lowly wing – would become the star of a burgeoning trend that gobbles up 2.55 billion pounds a year?
“It’s amazing to say we built this concept on nothing but chicken wings, but we have. That’s all we do,” said Andy Howard, executive vice president of Wingstop Restaurants Inc.
The Texas based restaurant chain has grown five times in size since 2003 and plans to open 10 more stores in the Sacramento region. There are already six local stores and at least two more are expected to open this year, in West Sacramento and the Arden area.
With nearly 90 stores in California, Wingstop is eyeing the Golden State as its next big expansion front, since the company has already blanketed Texas with 150 stores, Howard said. Nationwide, there will be 60 new stores this year, adding to 425 stores in 28 states.
It is a remarkable growth spurt that is bounding ahead even in an economic downturn, Howard said, probably because of a simple format and a value-priced menu that appeals to recession-weary diners.
Chicken wings, a peculiar but uniquely American food, appeal largely to a male, 20- and 30-something customer, Howard said. But, he added, they are accepted broadly across all ethnic groups and are not exactly snubbed by women.
Wingstop, founded in 1994, was an 80-store chain in 2003 when it was sold to the current owner. Unlike other restaurants that add chicken wings to the menu or wing-themed restaurants, such as the Buffalo Wings & Rings that recently opened in Elk Grove, Wingstop focuses on one thing: wings.
Besides a few sides, Wingstop sells practically nothing but wings and an array of sauces as traditional as hot sauce and as different as garlic and lemon.
“We want to stay very focused. We don’t want to be all things to all people,” Howard said.
With relatively small stores, 30 seats with few dine-in amenities, Wingstop caters to a 75 percent takeout customer base.
The concept is virtually without competition, said Scott Laeber, a vice president with Colliers International, which is handling the local leasing for the franchises.
“They’re filling a hole,” he said.
The privately held company is mostly franchised, with about 30 company-owned stores.
Brother and sister entrepreneurs Jeff Conley and Jeannine Winter opened their first store in Elk Grove in February 2006 and another in Tracy in April.
