Pacific Glaze is the latest sauce to join Wingstop’s menu, outperforming the uber-popular Hot Honey in consumer tests.
Larry Bellah, senior director of culinary and R&D for the Dallas-based chain, tapped into the flavors of Thai, Singaporean and Chinese cuisines to develop the new limited-time sauce.
“It’s a blend of red chili, vinegar, sugar, fermented soybean, plum, hoisin, garlic and Chinese five spice,” Bellah explained during a presentation to the media Wednesday at a New York City Wingstop location. Pacific Glaze officially launches Monday nationwide.
The flavor is rooted in authenticity, as it was originally created for Wingstop locations in Thailand and tested in Singapore. The culinary team worked hand-in-hand with partners in the region to refine the flavor.
“We wanted to create a sweet-heat Asian flavor profile, which is pretty big, but be as authentic and bring as much flavor as we can,” he said. “The hoisin, fermented soy, plum and five spice really bring the umami. It’s a bigger, bolder, more authentic flavor than you get in other wing places.”
A dip in Wingstop's house-made ranch adds a cool counterpoint to the sauce-glazed wings. | Photo courtesy of Wingstop.
As one of the media guests treated to a “peek behind the curtain,” I tasted wings, tenders and a chicken sandwich sauced with Pacific Glaze and coated with crunchy sesame seeds, a welcome bit of texture that added to the flavor experience. The sticky glaze delivers complex sweet heat with just the right amount of spice—a winning combination for this taster. Dunking the wings and tenders into Wingstop’s cool ranch—which is made in-house—added another flavor dimension.
The R&D journey of a Wingstop sauce
New sauces go through a rigorous R&D process before they make it to the menu. “Every six months, we start the process. We begin with 100-plus whiteboard ideas based on trends that are happening globally,” said Bellah. “Then internally, with the marketing department, we go through the ideas and trim them down. Next, we go to our consumer insights team to test the ideas online and see which 50 rise to the top.” Typically, from those 50, 10 go on to be developed and fine-tuned.
Wingstop looks for a combination of uniqueness and purchase intent in a new sauce. “We want a little bit of both to drive traffic,” Bellah said. Although Pacific Glaze was a fan favorite in Singapore and Thailand, sauces destined for the U.S. are further tested in two stateside markets. Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles are major test markets.
Wingstop is promoting the launch of limited-time Pacific Glaze with in-store signage. | Photo by Pat Cobe
From the 200 sauce ideas white-boarded twice a year, just four or five make it into the lineup. Although data plays a large role in determining the finalists, “there’s still this gut feel that comes into play,” said Bellah. And most land as limited-time offers, very rarely replacing one of the 12 core sauces on the permanent menu.
But guest feedback does make an impact. “Guests told us we really need to bring back Hot Honey, so in 2024, we did,” he added. “We had a lot of other flavors ready to go, and we weren’t planning to bring it back and make it permanent, but that’s what our guests really wanted.”
Wingstop’s menu strategy is to offer a limited number of items and make them the best, said Bellah. It’s a strategy that has fueled strong growth in 2024, with same-store sales expected to be up 20% and unit count at 2,458 by the end of the third quarter, mostly powered by franchising.
Although bone-in and boneless wings are the heart of Wingstop’s menu, the fast casual recently expanded with chicken sandwiches and tenders—boneless options that work equally well with all the sauces and attracted new guests.
“We could easily add a whole bunch of stuff [to the menu], but if it’s not going to be the best, we don’t want to do it,” said Bellah.
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