Food & Beverage

Fazoli's wings it with new concept

Provided

September 29, 2020

Although Fazoli's is best known for its fast Italian fare, the chain is rolling out chicken wings Wednesday at all company-owned locations. The 11 locations that tested the wings showed an 11% increase in sales, inspiring Fazoli's to launch its wing concept under the name Wingville, according to a company press release. Guests may order wings tossed in mild, medium, hot, honey BBQ, hot honey BBQ, Parmesan Garlic or Asian Chili sauce.

"We are very excited to debut wings," said Director of Culinary Innovation Rick Petralia in the press release. "Though we are an Italian brand, we wanted to expand and explore new ways to innovate our menu to provide guests with something they'd never expect from us. Wings were an easy choice because of their popularity and ease of execution. They are a perfect expansion for our off-premise business. On the culinary side, our team has been working very hard to perfect our wing recipes, testing and evolving sauces to provide the best variety and flavor for our guests. This is only the beginning, and the new equipment opens up even more possibilities to continue to innovate and enhance our menu."

Why wings?

Closing out on its most successful summer in brand history, Fazoli's ended August with sales up 17.4% and traffic up 21.6% at company locations. A major contributor to the summer sales surge was the introduction of wings with the brand projecting the launch to bring in an additional $2,500 a week per location.

"Once we saw the shift to off-premise sales and the overwhelming growth of delivery, we put our foot on the gas," CEO Carl Howard said. "This is a challenging time for our industry, but instead of backing down, we continued to innovate and capitalize on opportunities. Our locations with wings are 7% pre-post net of control higher in sales, and the ROI on adding wings is roughly four months. The numbers out of the gate were so strong, making the decision to launch wings company-wide this fall a no-brainer. Looking into the future, we are excited for wings to become a systemwide menu addition. Our franchisees are on board and excited about the opportunity to drive additional sales and traffic with our delicious new lineup."

By early spring of 2021, Fazoli's wings will be available systemwide as part of the brand's core menu. Franchisees will begin rolling out wings at their locations as early as this fall.

Founded in 1988 in Lexington, Kentucky, Fazoli's owns and operates nearly 220 restaurants in 28 states.