Wing Zone Featured in Newsday

Wing Zone was recently featured in a great placement in Newsday called “Wing Zone owners hope business takes flight” which published today. This article was built from an in-depth interview with Matt Licht and Matt Friedman and discusses Wing Zone’s expansion on Long Island. A portion of the article can be read below and online by clicking here.

Wing Zone owners hope business takes flight
By James Bernstein

Matt Licht and Matt Dolan hope their business will one day wing Long Island.

They own the only two Wing Zone takeout/delivery stores in the state, and they plan to have five of them, all on Long Island, in which case they will be ringing the Island as well.

Wing Zone, headquartered in Atlanta, serves up cooked-to-order chicken wings, fingers, sandwiches and more, and since the first...

(Read More)

Wing Zone Featured on FoodChannel.com

Wing Zone was recently featured on FoodChannel.com in an article called “One-Time Campus Chicken Wing Operation Now Going Global.” Written by Bill Bailey, senior editor at Food Channel, he explores Wing Zone since its inception by interviewing Matt Friedman and Adam Scott, co-Founders of the Atlanta-based franchise. They discuss starting Wing Zone in their frat house kitchen to now taking the brand globally and expanding in Panama, Japan and the Bahamas. Wing Zone is also focused on growing throughout the U.S. through franchising opportunities. A portion of the article is included below and the article can be read in its entirety by clicking here.

One-Time Campus Chicken Wing Operation Now Going Global
Bill Bailey

Forty-five years after Teressa Belissimo invented Buffalo Wings at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, N.Y., chicken wings remain as popular as ever—especially during football/tailgating season. Teressa’s simple sauce recipe—basically, three parts Frank’s RedHot and two parts butter—started a wings explosion.

Today there are a number of restaurant chains that specialize in wings, among them are Buffalo Wild Wings, Wingstop, and Wing Zone.

We recently had a chance to visit with the founders of the Atlanta-based Wing Zone chain, Adam Scott, 36, and Matt Friedman, 39, who began their chicken wing odyssey back in 1993. The pair were fraternity brothers at the University of Florida, majoring in Business/Finance with passion for two things: owning their own business and chicken wings.

Friedman says they had next to no experience in the restaurant business. “We were just wing fanatics,” he says. Growing up on New York’s Long Island and making frequent visits upstate to visit relatives, Friedman knew what authentic Buffalo Wings should taste like. Soon the two frat brothers were making wings and selling them like mad to fellow students on the Gainesville campus. “We worked hard to duplicate the flavor of the original buffalo wing,” Friedman says. “The deep fry cooking process—cooking them up crispy—the classic spicy sauce flavor, with the blue cheese on the side.” He says it’s all about the wrist action, flipping the wings around in the bowl of sauce to get good coverage. “People often use too much arm action,” Friedman adds.

(Read More)

MEDIA ALERT: Wing Zone Appreciates Customers

A Week of Special Deals Followed by a Saturday of Family Fun at Wing Zone of Charlotte’s Eastway Store

WHO:
Wing Zone Eastway

WHEN:
Monday, October 18 – Saturday, October 23, 2010

WHAT:
Customer Appreciation Week!

All week, Wing Zone will be offering 2 special deals:
1)10 Boneless wings for only $5.00
2) Add 5 shrimp to any order for only $2.99

WHERE:
Wing Zone
3124 Eastway Dr Ste 700
Charlotte, NC 28205

WHY:
Why not? Wing Zone wants to show its customers how much it loves them!

GRAND FINALE:
On Saturday, October 23rd from 2:00 – 6:00 p.m., Wing Zone will end the week with a big celebration at the store, featuring a live radio broadcast from 96.1 The Beat, games, face painting, a jump house for kids, and 5 free wings with any purchase of $10 or more!

For any additional questions or information, please contact Nancy Borrell.
Phone Number: 704.995.2495
Email: nancyborrell@bellsouth.net

How Wing Zone is Adapting to the Changed Economy

Adam Scott, Founder and COO

During harsh economic times, it takes innovation and new ways of thinking to continue to be successful. That’s exactly what Wing Zone has done to keep relevant during this recession and it’s worked. Among some of the many accomplishments that Wing Zone has achieved over the past two years are international growth, expansion to military bases across the United States, and developing new footprints for its concept.

In late 2009, we announced our international expansion to Panama, Bahamas and Japan. In Panama, with its new franchise partners, Wing Zone will open six locations; in the Bahamas, five locations; and in Japan 50 locations. Not only are we growing internationally, but we are the first wing concept to deliver in these countries as well.

Around the same time last year, we also announced our partnership with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) to bring 10 locations to military bases across the country. AAFES, a joint military activity providing quality merchandise and service to active duty, guard and reserve military, military retirees, and their families, is proof that our improvements were impressive, and viable for them to become our first franchisee to sign a double-digit deal.

In addition to looking for new ways to expand in nontraditional ways, we have also supplemented our existing retail design with new footprints to give new and established franchisees a variety of options to fit their needs. Our first footprint is an in line retail space at about 1200 square feet. We now offer franchisees two other options for restaurant build-out including a new modular unit, which is a free standing location, a bit smaller than our original design at around 900 square feet and boosts a drive through. The next is our new Grill & Tap. It is by far our largest design transforming our typical takeout/delivery format to a casual dining experience. It features a wait staff, TVs for watching the weekend games, beer and wine, and sports memorabilia to add some flair to the new restaurants.

Wing Zone has other plans in the works too. They say that innovation spurs economic recovery and we are proving that to be true by offering new and improved options to our franchisees.

Ad Age Discusses Wing Zone's major part within growing industry

Ad Age Magazine has recently published an article about Wing Zone’s growth despite harsh economic conditions. Adam Scott was interviewed for the article and attributes part of Wing Zone’s success to a low price point item that gained popularity when people were looking for ways to save money. Check out a portion of the article below or read the full article here.



In Lukewarm Industry, Chicken Wing Chains Stay Hot
Thanks to Low Price-Point, Spicy-Chicken Purveyors Outperforming Rivals; Football Season Brings More Gains | By Keri Lynch

It's football season. Pass the wings.

Even with relatively modest marketing spending, the product that was once a cast-off of little value is flying high. Not only are chicken-wing chains outperforming rivals in quick-service and casual-dining sectors, but prospects are strong for fall football season, when wing consumption over-indexes. (Read More)

Wing Zone tailgates with CBS Better Mornings Atlanta

This morning, Wing Zone co-founders Matt Friedman and Adam Scott went on CBS Better Mornings Atlanta to showcase their wings and sauces, while challenging meteorologist Justin Lock to their Nuclear Challenge--a wing-eating race featuring Wing Zone's hottest sauce.

To see Matt and Adam in action, click on the photo below.

Wing Zone hosts Nuclear Challenge at the 2010 National Buffalo Wing Festival

Over Labor Day weekend, Wing Zone traveled up to Buffalo, New York to once again to attend the National Buffalo Wing Festival. While Wing Zone made another strong appearance at the festival, one new addition to this year's festivities was the Nuclear Challenge. Wing Zone invited people to see how many wings they could eat. The catch? These wings were covered in Wing Zone's hottest sauce--Nuclear!

We captured many of these attempts in photos--check them out below!