After 18 Months of Work, Wing Zone Open in Panama

Wing Zone was recently featured by QSR in an article called “After 18 Months of Work Wing Zone Opens in Panama" The article was based off of an in-depth interview with Matt Friedman about Wing Zone’s first international location in Panama. Matt did a great job showing that this location has already been successful with first day sales tripling normal sales and talking about the strategy of finding owners locally-based to the international city was a must-do. Check out a portion of the story below or read the full article here.

After 18 Months of Work, Wing Zone Opens in Panama

For 18 months, executives at Atlanta-based Wing Zone laid groundwork for the brand’s launch into international expansion. In November, they finally tasted the fruit of that labor when the first international Wing Zone unit opened in Panama.

Matt Friedman, founder and CEO of the chicken wing chain, says it’s safe to say the opening was a success.

“Our opening day of business we did $4,800, which is three times what we’ll normally do on an opening day,” he says. “Our expected first week of sales will be somewhere between $25,000–$30,000, which is pretty awesome. (Read More)

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!

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.