Warren-based Wing Snob plans to have 100 stores in operation in 2025. Photo Credit: Wing Snob

By Jay Davis | Crain’s Detroit Business | June 08, 2023

Warren-based Wing Snob this year plans to nearly double its footprint, with more of its quick-service restaurants opening in Michigan and abroad.

Co-founders Brian Shunia and Jack Mashini plan to grow to 50 locations by the end of 2023. Wing Snob currently has 28 locations, including 14 in Michigan. Shunia projects the company will have about 100 stores open by 2025.

As part of that expansion, Wing Snob this month will open new locations in Brighton, Shelby Township and Dearborn with new stores in Livonia, Richmond, Clarkston, Fenton and Lansing opening later this year. Outside of Michigan, Wing Snob has three locations planned in Illinois, along with new locations in Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Ohio. The company’s first store outside the U.S. opened in February in Alberta, Canada.

“With the openings that are set and the spots we have under construction in various markets, we’re going to be on quite the run the next few months,” Mashini said.

The company works to open about two new locations each month, Shunia told Crain’s. The cost to open a new Wing Snob restaurant ranges from about $350,000 to as high as $600,000 depending on the market, according to Mashini.

All 28 locations of the current restaurants are operated by a group of 19 franchisees. Franchisees make an initial investment of $195,000-$352,000. Each location brings in about $1 million in sales annually. Franchisees pay royalties to Wing Snob’s corporate arm; the owners declined to disclose that figure.

Wing Snob co-founders Jack Mashini (left) and Brian Shunia plan to nearly double their footprint this year. Photo Credit: Wing Snob

The size of each location varies by region, Mashini said. Midwest stores are around 1,300 square feet — smaller because 95% of the business is carryout orders. Wing Snob restaurants in the south are around 2,000 square feet and get more dine-in business. Overall, though, about 90 percent of Wing Snob business comes by way of carry-out and delivery orders.

Each location has 15-20 employees.

Wing Snob has annual revenue of about $25 million, according to Mashini. The co-owners did not give projections, but said they expect revenue to grow exponentially as more locations open. That goes along with projections for the quick-service chicken franchise industry, which in 2022 saw its market size hit $55.05 billion, according to research from Statista. That represents a more than $30 billion increase from 2012.

The first Wing Snob opened in 2017 in Livonia with the first four locations owned by the company. The new Clarkston location will also be corporate-owned, Shunia said. Shunia and Mashini can’t be everywhere at once, so the company has quality-control managers in each market.

“Our training teams are most important as we build in multiple markets at the same time,” Mashini said of its Wing Snob University program. “That training to get the employees up to speed is our primary focus.”

Wing Snob offers traditional and boneless chicken wings, chicken tenders and crispy chicken mini sandwiches. The menu also features cauliflower wings and vegetarian Beyond tenders. Diners can choose from 15 sauces and spices for their wings. A selection of those spices, including lemon pepper and Cajun, are sold by the bottle at all Wing Snob stores.

“We work to try and have something for everybody,” Shunia said. “That’s what’s helped us get to the point where we can expand at the pace we are.”
Shunia and Mashini, who consider themselves wing snobs, left other fields to venture into entrepreneurship.

Shunia has always worked in the restaurant industry. He was a pizza chef and waiter before helping establish Front Page Deli in 2009; it has two locations in Warren and one in Southfield. Mashini previously owned a Metro PCS mobile phone service store and opened 23 stores as a Cricket Wireless licensee.
So why get into a seemingly crowded wings market?

“There’s so much room in the wing space. The only really big player is Wingstop,” Mashini said. “They’re the McDonald’s of wings. We want to be Burger King. No one is doing what Wingstop is with that type of growth and advertising.

“We’re trying to expand into as many markets as possible, but we want to do it the smart way. We don’t want to grow so fast that we crumble. We want to stay relevant. So far, so good.”

Mashini said the sky is the limit for Wing Snob.”Everywhere we go people are excited to bring us into the market,” he said. “We’re in the ‘cool’ stage now. We’re trying to stay relevant and open stores in new markets consistently. That’s how you make noise. There are a ton of chicken places. We’re trying to set ourselves apart.”