Quick-service restaurant chain WingsUp is looking to expand extensively in Canada and the U.S.

The company seeks to capitalize on sports fans’ love for eating chicken wings while watching games.

Darren Czarnogorski, the chain’s founder, president and CEO, told Connect that it plans to open 15-20 franchise locations per province in B.C., with virtually all of them in the Vancouver region; and Alberta, including Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer, over the next five years. The chain also intends to open three to five locations per state in Florida, Texas, Georgia and South Carolina during the same time span.

The Burlington, Ont.-based company has grown from one location to 38 since 1988. All but one location, the company’s training centre in Oakville, Ont., is a franchise outlet. Most of the existing locations are in Ontario with two, one each in Calgary and Vancouver, in Western Canada that opened this year.

“When it comes to Vancouver and out west in general, we think those are great markets,” said Czarnogorski. “Vancouver is a foodie city. It’s a great market. They have a large selection of Asian cuisine. They have a large selection of all kinds of different nationalities. And, we just thought that chicken wings are truly a North American food, and it would be something a little bit different and would do very well in there.

“Calgary, it’s a little bit different. We really like the fact that Calgary is a little bit blue- collar. It’s a strong market. People love sports in Calgary. They like watching sports.”

The B.C. expansion plans include a second location in Surrey. He also anticipates that Abbotsford and Richmond will be included in the expanded B.C. footprint. WingsUp expects to finalize a franchise agreement for a new Calgary location in the near future.. The company’s Calgary location is located near Chinook Centre. He expects to place the new location to situated in the northern half of the city.”

In the U.S., the chain is looking to tap into college football fans’ association with wings.

“The U.S. expansion plan is something we’re very excited about, because I think chicken wings are a big cultural thing down in the U.S.,” said Czarnogorski. “College football is a big deal down there, and I think if we could be part of that, that would be great.”

After graduating from university, Czarnogorski purchased a WingsUp location Burlington in the early 2000s and operated it after becoming intrigued by the company’s practice of selling always-fresh, never-frozen cooked wings in a variety of flavours. He then launched a chain bearing the brand.

“The first, first two years, I just spent figuring out the unit economics of the business,” he said. “So, I just worked in the restaurant. I cooked. I’m mopped the floors I hired. I did all the things, trying to figure out how to run a good store. And then after that, we built a few more corporate stores. And, I would say only about five, six years ago now, we took franchising seriously because we had about six corporate stores. And the thought was: Okay, how do we take this coast to coast? And, it just seemed like franchising made the most sense to bring it to local communities.”

The company now franchises its locations almost exclusively, after selling its corporate outlets and deciding to own and operate the training centre.

When it comes to each location’s design, WingsUp deploys a take-out and delivery model.

“We have a low-footprint model, so we have low overhead,” said Czarnogorski. “In this day and age of increasing costs. I think that’s an important thing.

The decision to focus on such a setup was also based on the premise that most people would rather eat in their homes rather than restaurants.

“In Canada, we do anything from 800 to about 1,400 square feet,” said Czarnogorski. “In the U.S. it’s a little bit bigger. It’s about 1,200 to 1,600 square feet, and that’s our focus. But mostly take on delivery spots. We’re hyper-focused on delivery and takeout. So they do have a little bit of dine-in. You might have a few tables, maybe two or three.”

Typically, the company sets up franchises in leased locations within strip malls and plazas

“We do the tenant improvements inside,” he said. “We build out the restaurant software’s equipment, and that’s how we open them.”

Photo: Courtesy of WingsUp