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WEST WING EXPANSION

WEST WING EXPANSION

Aggressive Southland Bid Planned for Chicken Wing Chain

By JENNIFER BELLANTONIO

Wingstop Restaurants Inc. is eyeing Orange County as part of the fast-food chain’s growth bid.

The Garland, Texas-based chicken wing chain plans to open up to 16 restaurants here in the next three years, said Bruce Evans, director of franchise development.

The new restaurants are set to be owned by franchisees, who are scouting locations in Irvine, Newport Beach, Laguna Niguel, Santa Ana, Anaheim, Garden Grove and Westminster.

Wingstop already has three restaurants in the Southern California cities of Long Beach, Carson and Inglewood.

Daniel Sonenshine, who in December signed a development deal to open 10 OC and Los Angeles Wingstop restaurants in three years, said he hopes to have his first open by August or September.

He said he’s scouting locations in the 1,300- to 1,700-square-foot range in southern Los Angeles and north Orange County. Ideally, the spots are in retail centers with a 24-hour grocery store or mass retailer.

“It definitely has a niche,” Sonenshine said of Wingstop.





About 80% of the company’s sales are from wings, said Jim Flynn (photo), Wingstop’s chief executive.

Wingstop, which mostly sells food to go, offers eight flavors of wings, such as Cajun, original hot, mild and teriyaki. The company’s menu also includes fries, baked beans and potato salad.

Wingstop has some competition in OC,one of which shares part of its name.

There’s Costa Mesa-based Wingnuts, an eat-in restaurant chain that sells ribs and 30 types of chicken wings. Wingnuts started with one restaurant in Costa Mesa in 2002 and plans to open its second location in Aliso Viejo at the end of March in the Aliso Creek Town Center, owner Gregg Diganci said.

He has plans for more.

“Hopefully this will soon be a chain in Southern California,” he said.

Both Wingnuts and Wingstop go with an aviation theme in their restaurants. But there are some key differences: Wingnuts is bigger, has a full bar and large eat-in area and is open for lunch and dinner.

Wingstop mostly sells takeout, offers beer, wine and soft drinks and is open for dinner seven days a week but serves lunch just Friday through Sunday.

The two compete with other fast-food chicken restaurants, such as Louisville-based Yum! Brands Inc.’s KFC and Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A Inc., which recently opened its first restaurant in Southern California with much fanfare. Chick-fil-A also is planning a big push in the Southland.

Evans said the company was attracted to OC because “there’s a huge concentration” of people. Many fit Wingstop’s typical profile: middle-income workers who want to pick up food on their way home from work, he said.

“The population in Southern California is only going to grow,” Sonenshine said. “The area in general can support more food.”

Wingstop, which has about 160 restaurants nationwide, up from 44 in 2001, has been on a growth tear.

The company expects to more than double its sales from $35 million in 2002 to an estimated $90 million in 2004.

This year, Wingstop plans to open 90 restaurants and another 150 to 175 in 2005, Flynn said.

Spearheading the growth: private equity firm Wellesley, Mass.-based Gemini Investors, which bought the company from its founder, Antonio Swad, in 2003 for an undisclosed amount.

As Wingstop ramps up in OC, Flynn said the company will start rolling out its national ad campaign, which features spokesman Troy Aikman, former National Football League quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys and three-time Super Bowl champ.

Flynn said that ads featuring Aikman have helped boost sales. January same-store sales were up 30%, Flynn said. That’s on top of a 20% jump in same-store sales in the fourth quarter, he added.

“Troy had something to do with that,” Flynn said of January sales. “He’s been a loyal customer for years and years.”

But Wingstop’s West Coast expansion won’t come without challenges. Among them: food distribution, Flynn said.

“Our distribution has always been a concern to us out there,” he said.

As Wingstop gets more restaurants up and running in Southern California it will make changes to keep costs down for franchisees, Flynn said.

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