After expanding its footprint to most of Canada’s major markets, chicken concept WingsUp is looking down for its next growth push.

Down south of the border, that is. Nearly 30 years after the brand began franchising with its second location, WingsUp CEO Darren Czarnogorski said the concept is primed for expansion in the United States.

“The U.S. market is the greatest in the world,” Czarnogorski said. “It’s a large market and everybody has a passion for chicken wings. We think we have a good market in Canada, but people are more tuned into wings and the variety of flavors in the U.S.”

The American growth is the latest in a winding road of development for the brand which launched in 1988. Beginning in the Toronto suburb of Milton, WingsUp waited until 1995 to open another site. From there, the concept’s ownership was traded a few times. By the time Czarnogorski entered the picture in the mid-2000s, WingsUp didn’t have a consistent identity.

“When I joined the company, it was all over the place,” Czarnogorski said. “The logo and artwork were different location to location, and that was the same with the menu. It required a lot of cleaning up.”

The clean-up process began in 2004, when Czarnogorski pivoted from his work at an investment firm to buying WingsUp at the suggestion of his father. At that point, the concept had four locations, three of them franchised. Over the next decade, Czarnogorski said he wanted to focus on steady, but limited, expansion.

“It was about slow growth,” Czarnogorski said. “We were opening corporate stores for the most part, opening one, and in another year and a half, opening another. We grew to about 11 units. Then we decided to switch gears and become more dedicated to franchising. About seven years ago, we made the move to sell all of our corporate stores and focused entirely on franchising.”

Today, the concept has 37 locations, with units on both coasts. During the pandemic, Czarnogorski said development didn’t slow down, as the brand benefitted because of its takeout and delivery-centric business model.

“Scaling the business was exciting,” Czarnogorski said. “We did a lot of that during COVID, with takeout and delivery putting some wind in our sails. We went all over from there and had a huge list of franchise partners that wanted to join. I’d say that was the harder part, figuring out who is a good partner and who isn’t.”

That method of determining the right franchisees will now extend to the U.S. side of the border, with a focus on markets in Florida and Texas. Those states, Czarnogorski said, are the most primed for new WingsUp restaurants.

“Texas is one of the best in the U.S.,” Czarnogorski said. “If you look at that state, it’s a diversified economy and everyone seems to be moving there, and we want to be part of that exciting growth. Florida is similar, though it’s more of a tourism place and a little less diversified than Texas. But it’s still a great market. We expect good brand recognition, too, since we have a lot of Canadians who vacation there.”

The third state on the schedule, Czarnogorski said, is likely Georgia, with plans to attend a franchise show in Atlanta in the near future. However, he said openings there aren’t likely in the immediate future.

“We’re not trying to get into too many places at once,” Czarnogorski said. “We know our franchisees will need a lot of support, and we need our area managers and marketing team to be able to handle that. We know if we spread ourselves too thin, it will be more difficult. With our first few stores, we want to keep our finger on it and work closely with the local team who understand those markets.”

As the leadership team begins talks with those potential ownership teams, Czarnogorski said they will keep an eye out for restaurant experience is helpful, but it’s not entirely necessary.

“We have an in-depth training program of six weeks, and it can be extended as needed,” Czarnogorski said. “We think what’s more important is a passion for the product. That’s No. 1. The owner-operator franchisee is also what we’re looking for, especially with the first group of partners. We want them to understand the customer, the community and be in the stores.”

That means an openness to multi-unit deals, but with each location to be developed one at a time. The goal, Czarnogorski said, is to evaluate the performance of the first unit before moving forward, as a way to manage growth carefully. What he is less concerned about is room for another chicken chain, as he said there’s still plenty of space to grow there.

“This category is big and competitive,” he said. “Chicken is the biggest protein there is, and we feel it’s growing every year in popularity. I know we have some big competitors, but we feel there’s room for us in the market.”

The initial investment to open a WingsUp is between $480,000 and $850,000, with restaurant sizes ranging from 1,500 to 1,800 square feet.