For over 25 years, Wing Zone made a name for itself as a go-to provider for flavorful wings and award-winning sauces. The brand carved out its own segment of the chicken wing. This and the potential for growth is what attracted the Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop franchise to acquire the brand in early 2021 with the mission to make Wing Zone the undisputed second largest wing franchise in the QSR category.
Following the acquisition, the Wing Zone team embarked on a full-scale mission to revitalize and enhance their franchise concept, leaning into advancements in restaurant technology and automation to give their customers an unmatched dining experience unlike any other.
The intent of this rebranding — beyond bringing the Wing Zone franchise into a new era of operations — is largely to attract one of the most sizeable and lesser-known demographics in America – Perennials!
Hearing that, you may be thinking, “What exactly is a perennial?”
Put simply, perennial is a generational demographic in which an individual defines themselves not by the year that they were born, but by their attitude in life. A perennial is someone who is capable of seeing the beauty in the world at every turn and who, above all else, just wants to enjoy themselves and have a great time with great people and great food (preferably at Wing Zone).
But, what kinds of changes does a brand make to attract such a unique demographic, you may be wondering. Well, here’s a small taste of what to expect at the new and improved Wing Zone locations.
Automation
Restaurant back-of-house operations is overdue for an overhaul. With a central focus on tech enhancements geared toward improving the customer dining experience, the redesigned Wing Zone kitchen is fully embracing automation to further launch the brand into a league of its own.
The new franchise concept accounts for robotic fry cooks that will be able to trim the cook time for wings down from 9 minutes to 2 minutes, helping the brand to further achieve its goal of providing consumers with the fastest wings on the market.
Just as well, with more customers than ever preferring a contactless experience inside fast-casual restaurants, Wing Zone’s new concept provides customers with a cashier-less system via self-order kiosks, and a series of cubbies from which guests dining in or carrying out can quickly and easily grab their food once it’s been prepared.
Scent Strategy
The true beauty of technology in our modern era is in its ability to permeate all human senses and illicit any and all of our emotions. In recent years, as such technology has begun to enter the restaurant space, brands and businesses have adopted their usage in ever-growing droves.
Smell is the most powerful and emotional of all the senses. By personally curating its scent, Wing Zone will be able to connect with customers on a deeper emotional level, resulting in a more memorable experience. When curated properly even, scent strategy has the ability to influence behaviors and trigger memories instantaneously, thus allowing Wing Zone’s flavor-fused menu options to not only stand out to consumers’ taste buds, but in their subconscious as well.
Sound Strategy
Similar to the effects of a carefully curated scent strategy, crafting a sound strategy that capitalizes on the inherent mental impacts of various music playlists and tempos has the ability to boost on-site sales and elevate the experience of Wing Stop goers.
Factoring in the foot traffic expected at various times of day, the mood of employees, and the energy level of patrons, each Wing Zone will be able to put together an audio format and schedule that will perfectly match the tone and temperament of their location on an hour by hour basis.
This full-scale investment in technology is intended not only to usher in an enhanced Wing Zone experience for customers and existing franchisees, but to set the tone for Wing Zone’s place in the market as an industry leader with its finger on the pulse of restaurant advancement and adaptation. A fact that is further exemplified by the brands incorporated use of ghost kitchens in their development strategy so as to better cater to those with off-premises dining preferences.
All of this is to say that wing fanatics, industry professionals, and investors would be wise to keep an eye on Wing Zone in the coming months/years, as it’s poised for an extraordinary degree of growth that will push the brand into new markets, introduce the concept to new consumers, and reshape the field of competition for chicken wing franchises.
