July 5 marks our 26th anniversary of serving the world flavor! What began as a small buffalo-style chicken wing restaurant in Garland, Texas, continues to soar to great heights. Today there are more than 1,400 restaurants open across the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Panama, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, UK and the United Arab Emirates.
It’s flavor that defines us and has made us one of the fastest growing brands in the restaurant industry. Here’s a quick timeline of our success.
Wingstop Timeline
1994 – Founded in Garland, TX by Antonio Swad.
1997 – First franchised location opened.
2002 – One billion wings had been served to the world.
2003 – Acquired by Gemini Investors and Antonio Swad was awarded Lifetime Achievement
2005 – Wingstop opened doors for lunch and rolled out boneless product.
2009 – Sold over 4 million wings on Super Bowl Sunday and that summer. Opened Wingstop’s first international restaurant in Mexico in 2010, hitting a total of 500 restaurants.
2010 – Sold to Roark Capital Group.
2012 – Charlie Morrison became CEO.
2013 – Opened first of eight Singapore locations.
2014 – Indonesia opened. The country has 36 total restaurants, mainly in Jakarta.
2015 – Went public with one of the most successful IPOs in restaurant history. Wingstop UAE also opened first location in Dubai and has eight other restaurants.
2017 – Opened 1000 location and expanded into Malaysia and Colombia.
2018 – Hit the national stage with first commercial, Where Flavor Gets Its Wings. Also opened restaurants in Panama City and London.
2019 – Launched national delivery with DoorDash and celebrated 25 years of business. Opened first location in France.
2020 – Launched Flavor for Good campaign during onset of COVID-19 pandemic and donated over 1 million meals to those in need and $1MM to NRAEF’S RERF, providing grants to industry workers in need.
