Wingstop Chosen Festival Favorite at Fourth Annual National Buffalo Wing Festival

Wingstop brings home top honors from national festival, including Best Creative Spicy Sauce

Recognized as the most popular chicken-wing Restaurant of the festival with long lines, high energy and great chicken wings, Wingstop was named Festival Favorite at the fourth annual National Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo, N.Y. on Saturday, Sept. 3.

“We were truly honored to be named Festival Favorite out of the more than 20 wing chains and restaurants from around the nation that were in attendance at this year’s festival,” said Dave McDonald, director of technical services and Wingstop’s festival organizer. “We were also blown away by how many people were anticipating our return to the festival this year. Attendees showed up in their Wingstop t-shirts and came through our lines again and again, although they were very long at times.”

In addition to Festival Favorite, two of Wingstop’s proprietary flavors were given top awards in blind taste tests, Cajun took first place for Best Creative Spicy Sauce and Atomic took second place for Best Traditional Extra Hot Sauce in the nation.

“We were very proud to have Wingstop at the festival, as their participation helped us take it to the next level this year,” said Drew Cerza, founder of the National Buffalo Wing Festival.

Festival attendees were entertained at Wingstop’s booth with Atomic wing eating challenges for adults, Hickory Smoked BBQ wing eating contests for children, line-dancing lessons and country music while they waited to chose from six of Wingstop’s nine proprietary flavors that were available at the festival.

Alex Moshenko, a festival attendee from Buffalo may have summed it up best when he said, “Buffalo may have invented the chicken wing, but Wingstop perfected it.”

Wingstop offers restaurants with a nostalgic, aviation-themed atmosphere where the sole focus is on chicken wings. The chain features nine proprietary wing flavors, including Original Hot, Cajun, Atomic, Mild, Teriyaki, Lemon Pepper, Hawaiian, Garlic Parmesan and our brand new Hickory Smoked BBQ. The wings are always made-to-order and served steaming hot. Customers also choose from homemade side dishes: fresh-cut seasoned fries, bourbon baked beans, pearl potato salad, creamy cole slaw, vegetable sticks, rolls and assorted dipping sauces.

Wingstop has more than 400 restaurants either open or under development in 26 states and consistently tops industry growth rankings. In 2004, Wingstop was ranked the number one chicken wing chain by Entrepreneur magazine and number four in Restaurants & Institutions’ Top 400 Sales-Growth Leaders (the only wing chain in the top ten). In July 2005, Wingstop ranked number 13 in Restaurant Business’ Top 50 Growth Chains (ranked by percentage increase in units). Troy Aikman, former Dallas Cowboy and three-time Super Bowl champion, signed on as the chain’s national spokesman in 2003.