The award-winning buffalo wings QSR, Wing It On! wanted to elevate their brand—and Craveworthy Brands had the industry expertise, community of support, and mutual passion for culture to help them reach their rightful place among the top brands in the national big leagues.
How’d things turn out? A 685% increase in social media engagement—and Wing It On! peak sales increase of 42%!
Wing It On! Had All the Right Ingredients—They Just Needed Experts With the Right Recipe!
Wing it On! was a winning buffalo wings brand that understood that great food and great people made all the difference. Excited by the prospect of growth, they wanted to accelerate momentum by up-leveling their franchise concept.
But they needed a partner who both shared their value for community and had the winning business blueprint for an effective relaunch.
What Wing It On! needed to win:
- Accelerate the growth and expansion of franchises to spread their unique and delicious wing experience to more customers.
- Create better relationships with vendors and acquire better rates on their average cost of goods (like paper products and food) to relieve the strain on their profit margin.
- Take their already exceptional food quality and enhance it—specifically in the boneless bites category.
- Elevate their image by clarifying their value proposition and upgrading their branding by integrating with high-end marketing team members.
Justin Egan, VP of Marketing & Franchise Development, explains:
“[Rebranding Wing It On!] was a catalyst to kickstart one of the most important requirements of Franchising: having a base of franchisees with a proven concept that operates profitably. That, in turn, attracts others to get involved in the system. If you can fix the revenue issues and introduce cost savings to the cost of goods sold, you can fix profitability and make growth a reality.”
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Matt Ensero, President and Founder, Wing It On! |
How Did Wing It On! know Craveworthy Brands was the multi-unit platform company that could get them where they wanted to go?
Their Craveworthy Stance on Culture
One defining feature that sets Craveworthy Brands apart is our belief that great company cultures come first. Why? When you create an environment that values your people and empowers them to achieve their goals—they’ll create unforgettable dining and hospitality experiences that keep customers coming back for more.
This people-before-profit system meant Wing It On! could expand and grow without sacrificing their connection with the community.
The Power of 200+
We have significant volume and greater buying power. Working with Craveworthy Brands gives restaurant franchise operators the buying power of 200+ restaurants across the system, streamlining costs related to food, technology and more.Working with Craveworthy Brands’ culinary and supply chain experts, Wing It On! Operators are expected to save up to 5-7% on food costs, opening up the brand’s financial model to additional budget for more local marketing and ultimately higher profits.
- Food Cost between 23% and 30%
- Labor 30%
- Rent 15%
- Mis costs, utilities 25%
- 2% Marketing Fund
- 3% royalties
Giving you 7% top-line additional budget and opening up higher profits.
Established Multi-Unit Platform With A Record Of Success
Craveworthy Brands owns, operates, and franchises seven distinct brands across 24 states. We take pride in being an established franchisor that offers franchising opportunities for our legacy brands, Genghis Grill Stir-Fried Bowls, BDs Mongolian Grill, Flat Top Grill, as well as our emerging brands, Wing It On!, The Budlong Hot Chicken, Krafted Burger Bar + Tap, and Lucky Cat Poke Company.
Operating under a multi-unit platform, franchisees have more access to resources, tools, and support systems and more buying power.
Rather than building new relationships with vendors and managing higher price points for services, working with a multi-unit franchisor provides an established system that opens up your profit margin and sets you up for success with top-tier vendors from the get-go.
| “Our goal at Craveworthy Brands is to give our franchisees the opportunity to achieve the American dream and become their own entrepreneur. We’ve already created the playbook for them.” — Gregg Majewski, Chief Executive Officer & Founder |
These changes position the brand for exponential growth and give them the runway to compete with major US brands. The brand already had the key elements to be a major contender in the fast-casual wing space (food quality, flavor, and a regional following) but hadn’t perfected its formula for growth. Access to capital, leadership, and other resources were the common gaps.
Craveworthy Brands helps emerging brands unlock their potential and become household names.
The turnaround was part of a concerted effort engineered by the talent and resources of Craveworthy Brands - across marketing, culinary, operations, and technology.
How Craveworthy Brands Helped Wing It On! Reach The QSR Big Leagues
Once Wing It On! joined Craveworthy Brands’ culture-first team, CWB immediately started with a rebrand to transform it into a national player.
From stunning new brand design decisions to elevating their already exceptional menu—here’s how Craveworthy Brands took what Wing It On! already did amazingly well… and kicked things up a notch.
Stage 1: Aesthetics—revitalizing the logo, elevating interior design, and going bold with the color palette
Wing It On!’s existing logos, imagery, messaging, and value proposition were working—but they wanted to be seen as an authority among multi-unit brands—and Craveworthy Brands had the blueprint, resources, and experts to help them get there.
Previously, individual franchisees were primarily responsible for Local Store Marketing, so one of Craveworthy Brands’ top priorities was creating brand consistency throughout every franchise and alleviating the marketing pressure on franchisees—all of which would directly contribute to greater success.
Here’s how Craveworthy’s world-class marketing team revolutionized Wing It On! from the inside out:
- We made Wing It On! impossible to ignore by redesigning the logo and visuals into something bolder and brighter.
- Simplified menu boards, decals, and packaging to be easier to read, scannable, and more elegant.
- Gave Wing It On! ’s digital presence a complete facelift by updating the website, mobile app, and online ordering page.
- Elevated every touchpoint experience with impeccable in-store point-of-purchase signage.
- Developed clear, compelling messaging focused directly at the consumer by redesigning:
- Digital approach
- Menu boards
- Logo and visuals
- In-store point of purchase
- Messaging
Stage 2: Menu Relaunch—Modernizing The Menu Without Losing The Magic!
Wing it On!’s menu was full of mouth-watering options that had delighted fans since 2011. However, Craveworthy Brands helped the buffalo chicken QSR make a few tweaks to menu presentation and organization that reinvented the dining experience and helped increase sales.
- Here’s how Craveworthy Brands made the Wing It On! menu an even bigger success:
- Created a more consistent menu that retired any items that (while delicious and innovative) didn’t quite fit the brand.
- Simplified the guest decision and ordering processes by consolidating option quantity.
- Boosted average ticket size by bringing combo meals and family packs front-and-center on the menu.
- Introducing a limited time secret menu: Lavaberry Pop Rocks—which won 2nd place for best dry rub at the National Buffalo Wing Festival in 2023!)
- Introduced “mix-and-match” flavor options that gave guests more control over their ideal flavor.
Stage 3: Awareness—Bringing Wing It On! Top of Mind and Top Of The Chicken Wing World Stage
- Even the best rebranding makes little difference if people don’t know about it—and that’s why Craveworthy Brands developed inspiring campaigns that appealed to the truest chicken aficionado.
- “Chicken Like a Champ!” solidifies us as the underdog with nothing to lose. It helps consumers see our passion for authentically prepared Buffalo wings—how true wing nuts deserve them. That spirit of being “the champion” of buffalo wings influenced every aspect of the redesign.
- The Wing It On! US National Wing Eating Championship is at the National Buffalo Wing Festival in 2023 (the biggest wing festival in the country) where the biggest names in professional eating (like Joey Chestnut) participate.
- Gaining recognition for our brand by our logos being on the jerseys, and the Wing It On! 2023 champ belt gave a big boost to brand’s popularity.
The Result Of The Relaunch? Lower CoGS, More Brand Awareness— A Big Boost In Sales!
As one of the first brands acquired by Craveworthy Brands (February 2023), Wing It On! underwent a complete rebranding and menu transformation that resulted in a significant boost to revenue and guest engagement…
But that’s not even the tip of the iceberg as far as the incredible success that Wing It On! achieved with the Craveworthy Brand’s rebrand…
- Net system-wide sales are up 2.5% and growing!
- 44.5% of all sales are combo and family packs!
The WIO! Stores saw weekend sales post-launch climb an average of 42% vs. the prior Saturdays—specific locations even saw an increase in Saturday sales of over 100%!
Wing It On! sales saw an immediate boost. Saturday sales increased 42% on average compared to the prior Saturdays!
Some stores (like Fort Worth) increased Saturday sales by more than 100%, and added almost 400 more guests to the system
And out of 900+ Saturday transactions, about 1/3 were in-app offer redemptions—while the remaining sales and traffic bump came from an increased presence on social media, news, and beyond!
Social media impressions grew by 1600%, and engagement boomed by 685%—that’s a BIG brand awareness boost!
With a modest ad budget and executing strategies like Influencer marketing and updating Wing It On!’s online presence, impressions increased by 1600%, and social media engagement increased by 685%.
Most importantly, the feedback from franchisees in the system was very positive—with many (including some with past franchise experience) thrilled with the modernized menu that streamlined costs, and offered more profitable ways for guests to consume the product (i.e., combos, family packs, larger quantities, etc.)
The Menu Remodel Increased Check Averages By 7% Since The Launch
Bringing the combo and family meals front and center, and removing items that didn’t align with the brand offered guests a more streamlined and convenient experience. While we trimmed aspects of the menu, we also increased customization options and quantities—which all resulted in a customer experience that boosted average check sales by 7%.
When Wing It On! trusted a well-established platform with a long track record of success and a belief that internal culture is vital to lasting success, they experienced a transformation that skyrocketed business and helped them exceed their growth metrics.
If Wing It On! sounds like the winning choice as your first and next franchising venture contact one of our franchising experts to find out how you can become a franchisee success story today.
