East Coast Wings was born in the year 1995 when a small, individual wing restaurant concept in Winston-Salem, NC was opened. In 2001, two restaurant entrepreneurs with over 40 years of combined restaurant experience bought this individually owned store, then reworked and expanded upon the original East Coast Wings concept and menu to introduce a new and improved Buffalo-style restaurant that is known today as East Coast Wings & Grill. These two entrepreneurs set out to change the stereotype of the traditional Buffalo-style wing restaurants in America that typically do not place importance on food and family atmosphere as much as beer sales and the bar scene. East Coast Wings was born to prove to America that not only can you enjoy Buffalo-style wings with a heat index that spans nine levels, but also choose from multiple flavors, fresh salads, wraps, burgers and sandwiches, all prepared fresh to order. They also envisioned a casual dining experience that delivered an atmosphere where anyone, especially families, could enjoy famous East Coast Wings Buffalo-style wings and variety menu. Therefore, they created a warm and inviting décor, scaled down the bar atmosphere, and evolved East Coast Wings into a causal, full-service dining experience. By 2002, by popular demand, they began building the foundation of the East Coast Wings franchise system.
By 2004, the basics of building the franchise system had been accomplished and they were ready to begin growing this brand. Unique to other franchise philosophies, this brand believes in growing fast enough to serve the increasing requests to open a restaurant, but slow enough to ensure that we have the proper fit between franchisee and franchise, as well as the ability to continually provide superior franchisee support. In 2007, the brand evolved even further with the change to East Coast Wings & Grill, to ensure that we stand out as not only ‘America’s Best Wings’, but to also include the wide variety of fresh items offered on the menu in addition to wings, including chicken, beef and shrimp, which all allow customers to experience our unique flavor and heat combinations.
By mid-2011, the brand grew to 19 operating stores in North Carolina, and has maintained 31 consecutive quarters of same stores sales growth. We have developed two different prototype stores to allow us to adapt to all types of market sectors, with creative market saturation, and to allow us to further service multi-unit owners and Area Developers alike.
East Coast Wings & Grill gives a franchisee candidate the opportunity to be a part of growth and strategic expansion, while having the support and guidance of a franchise system in place already to give continued corporate support and the benefit of brand recognition through use of our trademarks, logos, proprietary information and recipes.
We have franchising opportunities available currently throughout the United States for single and multiunit development. We have a variety of unit prototype sizes for consideration, depending upon the desired development strategy, market area and financial ability of the potential franchisee. Previous restaurant experience is required at minimum for an inside partner, and every potential franchisee needs a credit score of 650 or above with no bankruptcies, mortgage defaults, and a clean criminal record/background check.
Single unit development pertains to license rights granted to an individual franchisee to operate a single location within a specified territory. If a current franchisee is interested in acquiring an additional location, then a new franchise agreement can be signed to obtain another location, providing all criteria required by corporate has been met and approved. Or, the franchisee may wish to explore our Area Development model. All Franchisee Agreements have a primary term of 10 years.
An Area Development model offers the franchisee the option to purchase license rights for three to five locations at one time, under an Area Development Agreement for a specified territory. A development schedule and timeline for each location is outlined within the Area Development Agreement, and a Franchise Agreement is signed prior to beginning development of each location.
*NOTE: East Coast Wings & Grill is currently just franchising in the United States.