Wing Zone Founders, Franchising Experts, Offer Advice on Should You Franchise Your Business

The North Central Florida Business Report just recently published a story entitled, “Should You Franchise Your Business,” in which Wing Zone Co-Founders, Matt Friedman and Adam Scott, laid out some advice for business owners who may be considering franchising. Matt and Adam began Wing Zone in Gainesville, FL out of their fraternity kitchen and turned it into an international franchise concept which has been selected by Entrepreneur as one of the best franchises in the country. Check out the story here:

Should You Franchise Your Business?
By Chris Eversole

Former University of Florida students Adam Scott and Matt Friedman got off to a slow start and had little money when they founded Wing Zone in the kitchen of Phi Kappa Phi fraternity in 1991.

Today, Wing Zone has 100 stores and has received awards from Inc. and Entrepreneur magazines as one of the country’s best franchise businesses.
Wing Zone is an example of the kind of success you can achieve if you turn a business into a thriving franchise. But getting from start to finish can be challenging. Here are the essential steps you’ll need to follow:

START WITH A GOOD CONCEPT
To create a lucrative franchise, you first have to have a business that:
• can be taught;
• can be profitable for you and the franchisee; and
• can work in various geographic areas.
Before turning to franchising, Scott and Friedman proved their business concept worked by opening and operating their own stores at college campuses throughout the Southeast.

NAIL DOWN THE DETAILS
Parker Van Hart is beginning to franchise his local restaurant, Buddha Belly, which offers a healthy, diverse menu ranging from various fried rice dishes to burgers. He’s changing the name to Tasty Buddha to broaden its appeal, and he’s developed a website aimed at franchisees.
Just as importantly, he has created a comprehensive procedures manual that runs more than 1,000 pages and is still growing. “I’m surprised at how big it is,” he says.

The Wing Zone manual is similarly detailed—including everything from temperature settings for the refrigerator, to what button to push on each machine and how to bag the wings.

(Read More)

Franchisee Profile: Matt Licht, Owner of Wing Zone Bellmore, NY

Location: 2760 Sunrise Hwy
Bellmore, NY 11710
Opened: October 15, 2010


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Q: Where are you originally from?
A: Freeport, NY, just 10 minutes away. I’ve lived here all my life

Q: Before Franchising, what were you involved with?
A: I went to UF as an Animal Science major planning on going to veterinary school, but I soon realized that the 4.0 GPA I’d need to do this wasn’t exactly what I was planning to do with my time in college… So, upon graduating, I decided to open the very first Wing Zone in New York with my dad in East Meadow, in October of 2004.
My parents were both teachers, so we were able to recruit some great local high school students to work in our store. One was Matt Dolan, a particularly great worker who is now my business partner and part-owner of the new store in Bellmore.

Q: How did you learn about the brand?
A: Wing Zone started in Gainesville, at UF where I went to school. Actually, my family is friends with WingZone founder Matt Friedman and his family. Our moms taught high school together. So it was really exciting for us to be able to take Matt’s great concept and bring it to the state of New York for the first time.

Q: Why was this brand the right fit for you?
A: I like the product. I like how in our areas there aren’t really any other places like us, if there are they aren’t even close to touching us quality-wise. Not a lot of wing places who do what we do. We love the product and what we produce. It’s a great franchise even through tough economic times—in the past few years we managed not just to keep our doors open but also to expand! I feel very fortunate, especially now that the economy is picking back up.

Q: How do you see the brand connecting with your local community?
A: We joined Chamber of Commerce, sponsor Little League teams, have a great relationship with local college, Hofstra. We also regularly give gift certificates to fundraisers. Community service and local involvement is really important to us. After all, this is my hometown, I love it here.

Q: What are your future goals? Development plans?
A: I’d like to open up about 3 more locations in Long Island, for a total of at least 5 restaurants. My long-term goal is to open my own brewpub!