facebook pixal
Emerging Brands

5 things to know about: Atomic Wings

How the fast-casual chicken wing chain is preparing for growth amid the coronavirus crisis.
Atomic Wings CEO
Photo courtesy of Atomic Wings

Buzzworthy Brands is a bi-weekly Restaurant Business podcast and feature highlighting innovative growth brands. Listen to the conversation with Atomic Wings owner and CEO Zak Omar here. 

 

Atomic Wings began in 1989 in New York City, founded by Adam Lippin. Current owner and CEO Zak Omar joined the brand seven years ago, after becoming a multi-unit Dunkin’ franchisee about 15 years ago. When Omar joined, Atomic Wings had three brick-and-mortar stores and a number of co-branded units. The fast-casual wing chain currently has 11 units clustered in the Northeast, with 16 more stores in the development pipeline (10 of which have been signed during the pandemic).

Atomic Wings

 

  1. Atomic Wings doesn’t aspire to being Buffalo Wild Wings, Omar says. With its small-footprint stores (800-square-feet to 1,500-square-feet), the concept is ideally suited to takeout and delivery.
  2. Omar learned to hustle from his father, a refugee from Afghanistan who fled to the U.S. during the war with Russia. Omar’s father opened a fried chicken food truck on Wall Street in New York City, where a 12-year-old Omar would mix the sauces together to create interesting flavor combinations. “We want to be known as the flavor kings,” Omar says.
  3. The concept says it is well-suited to pandemic dining, with its small stores, tight labor model and focus on off-premise sales, Omar said. Some units are seeing a more than 100% increase in sales during the crisis.
  4. Omar’s experience as a franchisee has helped him as a franchisor. Franchisors need to be flexible, especially during times of stress, to help franchisees succeed. If they’re doing well, it’ll help the overall brand. Atomic Wings focuses on franchisee training to help set them up for success.
  5. Atomic Wings is getting ready for national growth, investing in its tech infrastructure and differentiating with fresh, hand-cut wings that are breaded in-house with an assortment of sauces.

Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.

Multimedia

Exclusive Content

Financing

Yum Brands CEO David Gibbs doesn't get his company's stock price decline

The Bottom Line: The owner of Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut and Habit has declined as much as 10% since reporting what Gibbs called a “blowout” first quarter. And the company argues that it could easily weather a downturn.

Financing

In a tough year for restaurants, CEO pay took a big hit

The highest-paid executive last year wasn't even a CEO, and three of the 10 best-paid chief executives no longer work for their companies.

Beverage

Beer sales flat? These bars know how to pump them up

A combination of target marketing and tech enhancements can spur craft beer sales for operators.

Trending

More from our partners