How Big is the Wings Category?

hoots wings franchise is ready to bring more variety, more flavor, and more choices to wings lovers across the nation

Americans love chicken wings. The National Chicken Council reports that Americans eat 24 wings a month, 290 wings a year, and more than 17,000 wings in their lifetime. There’s perhaps no food more ubiquitous on restaurant menus, more appropriate for parties and get-togethers, and more cravable for a quick lunch or dinner on the go. The New York Post sums up our obsession with wings perfectly, “Whether they’re grilled, fried, baked, sauced or dipped, the American people can’t get enough – and we know how they feel.”

Our love affair with wings has created an enormous unmet demand. The Food Institute published a report in 2020, which details just how fragmented the wing category truly is – as well as how sustainable wings concepts are in comparison to the rest of the industry.

“As of December 2015, there are over 3,200 restaurants in the U.S. dedicated primarily to chicken wings,” Food Institute reports. “Considering years in business, 53% of chicken wing restaurants in the U.S. have been in operation for 5+ years and 22% have been open 2-5 years.”

hoots wings franchise opportunity

Only 3,200 restaurants devoted to wings isn’t nearly enough to cut it in a nation that eats well over one billion wings on Superbowl Sunday. According to Forbes, the QSR wings category is expected to rapidly grow in the coming years, and in turn, this is leading to Americans eating even more wings.

“A growing category combined with innovation (both flavors and cuts) and more accessibility and you’ve got a perfect storm for increased consumption,” Forbes reports.

While the industry continues to grow, it is also dominated by only one major competitor, who simply doesn’t offer the variety that American consumers crave. This means that the industry is primed for a disruptor.

hoots wings is Ready to Take on the Wings Industry

The hoots wings franchise opportunity is brand new to the QSR wings category, and we’re already taking wings to the next level.

Our chef-inspired menu was created by a protege of Wolfgang Puck, who recognized that the chicken wings landscape was getting pretty stale and predictable for today’s adventurous, option-minded consumers. By perfecting four styles of wings, including breaded, boneless, roasted and smoked, and creating dozens of sauces and dry rubs, hoots® wings has something for everybody.

“We wanted to master the wing,” says Mark Whittle, Chief Development Officer of Hoots Franchising, LLC. “It’s all about creating a consistent product that your team can deliver time and time again, and more importantly, a product that your customers want to return to time and time again. Through innovation, discovery and passion for wings, we’ve created a menu that customers are really excited about.”

One of the key differentiators isn’t only the variety of styles of wings on our menu, it’s the fact that we take the time to prepare everything in-house, and we make everything fresh for the customer. Unlike other concepts, where wings sit under heat lamps, we make our food to order.

Wings Travel Well

The mobile delivery boom is here to stay. USA Today reports that, according to a survey conducted by DoorDash, “66% of the customers polled named delivery as their favorite method of getting dinner on the table. Cooking their own meal came in second, and picking up takeout was third. And what about going out to a restaurant to eat? Fourth place.”

Unsurprisingly, wings are one of the most popular choices for consumers wanting to dine-in – and the answer is simple: they travel well.

hoots wings franchise opportunity

hoots wings launched this concept with mobile delivery in mind, creating an app that allows customers the ability to order online and by participating with mobile delivery platforms like UberEats and GrubHub. In our restaurants, we even have a designated area specifically to make picking up online orders and mobile delivery orders as fast as possible.

“There aren’t that many foods that travel well,” says Sal Melilli, President of Hoots Franchising, LLC. “You can order wings, and even if it takes a half-hour for your food to be delivered, they’re going to be the same product you would get at the restaurant. And it makes sense that wings are popular for ordering in. It’s a social food. When you bring in wings for a party or to watch a game, you’re not looking down at your plate. You’re reaching down with your hands, grabbing the wings, and eating them. It’s food that allows you to talk, to be social, to enjoy a game.”

Our Menu Goes Far Beyond Wings

While wings are surging in popularity, a menu that’s limited to wings doesn’t have nearly the profit-potential of one that offers more of what consumers want. hoots wings recognized that a healthy restaurant has to have strong consumer appeal and strong margins right out of the gate, and so we’ve engineered our menu to be more inclusive to customers of all dietary choices, lifestyle choices and flavor profiles.

Our menu features chef-inspired salads, sandwiches, and wildly innovative sides, such as our waffle fries, Hellacious Jalapeno Cheese Mac, as well as our signature Chicken Chips, which are thinly sliced and fried chicken pieces that are perfect for dunking into our wide array of house-made sauces and dips.

Ready to learn more about the hoots wings franchise opportunity?

If you’re ready to bring the most dynamic and innovative wings concept to your community, fill out an application on this site to learn about the hoots wings franchise opportunity. We can’t wait to learn more about you!

Ready to get started?

If you’re ready to learn more about investing in a Hoots franchise, simply fill out the form below, and a member of our team will reach out to you shortly. We can’t wait to learn more about you!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.