FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Welcome To The Wing Zone

By Frank Ruggiero

You are about to enter another dimension; a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of taste; a journey into a wondrous land of chicken. There’s a signpost up ahead – your next stop, the Wing Zone.

Boone’s newest and currently only takeout/delivery store that specializes in chicken wings, the local Wing Zone was opened by entrepreneurs Brett and Michelle Byrd of Winston-Salem.

The franchise offers 25 flavors of its award-winning Buffalo wings, as well as plentiful sides and other flavorful munchies. Located off Wilson Drive in the Winkler’s Creek Crossing shopping center, Wing Zone opened Jan. 10 to customer reaction that can only be described as “hot.”

“Reaction has been incredible,” franchise owner Brett Byrd said. “Business has been great, and we already have people that come back every day.”

“We’ve had people come in and say, ‘I couldn’t wait for this place to open,’” manager John Pearce said.

With this location strictly a takeout/delivery business, Pearce said the ample variety of Buffalo wings means customers have an alternative to pizza and other delivery foods. Byrd, who owns two other Wing Zone stores in Winston-Salem, said delivery accounts for 60 to 75 percent of his business.

“We’ve got the best wings in town, and I have no problem saying that,” he said. “We’ll pit them against anyone else.”

The wings are made to order, with sauces prepared throughout the day from Wing Zone’s award-winning recipes. For instance, Wing Zone received first place as national festival favorite at the 2006 Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo, N.Y.

In terms of spiciness, sauces range from mild to nuclear, and there are plenty of flavors to boot, such as garlic parmesan (winner of the most creative wing sauce in 2003), Asian sesame, honey barbecue, teriyaki, Cajun, Thai chili and lemon pepper supreme, just to name a few.

Customers can order as few wings as five, as many as 100, and nearly anything in between. Wings are available in basket combinations, which come with wedge fries on the side. Other sides include cheese fries, beer-battered onion rings, mozzarella sticks and fried mushrooms. Also on the menu are chicken fingers, Buffalo shrimp, chicken sandwiches, half-pound hamburgers and salads. Desserts like cheesecake and brownie bites are the icing on the cake (or the sauce on the wing, in this case).

Byrd said his store hasn’t attempted an advertising blitz just yet, as it’s been relying more on word of mouth. “And judging by the business we’ve had, it’s worked,” Pearce added.

The Byrds were introduced to the Wing Zone concept while working in Winston-Salem, Brett at Wachovia Bank and Michelle at Krispy Kreme’s corporate office.

“We wanted something different, so we thought about franchising concepts that fit what we were wanting to do,” Byrd said, adding he read about Wing Zone in Entrepreneur Magazine. This led him and Michelle to open a store in Winston-Salem, followed by another shortly thereafter.

“There were a couple of guys that worked for me in Winston, and they used to travel up to Boone and loved it,” Byrd said. “They kind of turned me on to the area, telling me about all the college kids and how well a Wing Zone would do.”

The Byrds had vacationed in the area on numerous occasions, and the notion of opening a Wing Zone location in Boone began to seem all the more plausible. The Byrds can now rest assured, simply by the kind reception they received upon their arrival. “It’s a lot more laid-back here than in Winston, the weather’s better, the people are nice and the drive up here even isn’t bad,” Byrd said.

Even the restaurant’s new neighbors welcomed the Byrds with open arms, such as neighboring Log House Florist, which offered them a bouquet of flowers.

“Everyone’s just been so nice,” Byrd said, adding he plans to return the favor by involving his business in the community. “We plan to reach out to the community anyway we can to work with the town and become part of the fabric of the community.”

“We want it to feel like more of a local business than a franchise,” Pearce added.

Despite its soaring popularity, Wing Zone had rather humble beginnings, as it was founded in 1991 at the University of Florida by then-students Matt Friedman and Adam Scott. In their fraternity house kitchen, the two cooked wings with homemade sauces and delivered them to fellow students.

The homegrown business began to grow, and Friedman and Scott started franchising Wing Zone in 1999. The business now has more than 100 locations, with the Boone location its 121st.

The company, with Friedman as president, is now based in Atlanta, Ga., and locations can be found throughout the southeast and as far as St. Louis, Mo.

The Boone location’s delivery area ranges from Perkinsville to Niley Cook Road to Willow Valley to the N.C. 105 Bypass “and everywhere in between,” Pearce said.

Wing Zone is located at 246 Wilson Dr., Suite K, in Winkler’s Creek Crossing. Business hours are 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., Friday and Saturday; and 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Sunday. For more information, call 264-7788 or visit www.wingzone.com on the Web.