Article

Chicken wing food truck finds a waiting audience

Wing It On, a chicken wing chain, has found the demand waiting for its Wing It On Wheels food truck. The company has found the food truck a profitable add-on.

April 10, 2019 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

When partners Matt Ensero and Justin Egan hired Eric Legere as a manager to develop and oversee the first Wing It On Wheels food truck, they knew they had a winner. Legere brought experience managing the mobile food operation for a local barbecue restaurant, along with a background in hospitality working in South Florida, and he wanted join a growing company to advance his career.

Customer response has been strong for the Wing It On Wheels food truck.

The partners created the first Wing It On Wheels food truck two years ago to serve as a prototype for their Waterbury, Connecticut based Wing It On restaurant franchise operation. As described in part one of this two-part series, Ensero and Egan believe food trucks provide a great way to market a brick-and-mortar brand, while a brick-and-mortar restaurant provides synergies for a food truck.

Legere took responsibility for booking events, working the events, handling maintenance and hiring help as needed. In the first year, Ensero and Egan frequently joined Legere on the truck to get an idea about the staffing needs. 

The market responds

Finding events to attend proved easier than expected.

Wing It On had already established relationships with some of the local breweries, which were natural locations for the truck.

"They knew what we were doing with Wing It On, so when we launched the truck we had a lot of equity with these owners already, and they were really excited to bring us in," Ensero said.

"Since there's no wing competition, we were welcomed in to every brewery, every festival, every event that we applied for. Since we're the only wing truck in the state, it's basically an automatic invitation. The festival sponsors and event coordinators are always excited to bring in new concepts."

"We've been able to leverage the existing notoriety of our brick-and-mortar brand," said Egan, who handles marketing. "The Facebook and Instagram has allowed us to leverage the brand rather than starting from scratch."

The truck kitchen stays stocked with support from the brick-and-mortar restaurant.

The first event was in April of 2017 at a brewery. Top Connecticut breweries get a lot of foot traffic, Ensero said.

"They draw beer fans from around the state, even out of state," he said.

They have not taken the truck to street locations, so they have not needed street permits.

"We don't see that as a model that's going to drive a lot of brand awareness," he said.

While catering events are lucrative, Ensero did not see catering as a good way to promote the company. For franchisees, however, he thinks catering will be a profitable business.

Corporate customers respond

While catering has not been a focus to date, there are some big companies that host the truck on a regular basis. "Those corporate lunch services kind of keep us steady year round," he said. The truck is operating five days a week. There are usually one or two events per day.

The products are priced 10 to 15 percent more on the truck than the restaurant.

"There was no pushback," Ensero said. 

The largest event to date has been the New England Food Truck Festival at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, which brought in around $9,200 in two few days.

"For 90 percent of the time, we had a line," Egan said, "no less than 30 people waiting."

They served 500 people per day.

While they have not had any problem finding events to attend, they also use CTfoodtrucks.com, a Connecticut food truck booking service.

They post the truck schedule on Google calendar, which synchronized with their website. Customers use the calendar to know where to find the truck.

"It's a tool to show fans where we'll be," Egan said.

The partners have been pleasantly surprised by the truck's profitability.

"The net profitability is almost twice what it is for a brick-and-mortar store," Ensero said.

There is also less overhead and business risk.

The company plans to start taking mobile orders soon for the food truck.

Franchisees show interest

Some franchisees have already expressed interest in having trucks. Franchisees will be given first right refusal to serve food truck events in their market. If there are multiple trucks operating in a market, preference will be given to the one that previously served the event or, for a new event, on a first-come, first-serve basis.

"For 2019, our goal is to sign four units and make sure we build as much efficiency into the operations as possible," Ensero said. "2020 begins our exponential growth as we target 20 units in development."

"It's fun extension of our brand because it's a different purchase process," Egan said. "The food truck is almost like a personality. It's something that you seek out."

Photos courtesy of Wing It On.

About Elliot Maras

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Elliot Maras is the editor of Kiosk Marketplace and Vending Times. He brings three decades covering unattended retail and commercial foodservice.