Wing Shack Co shares opening pipeline

Wing Shack Co is preparing to open a number of new sites, as well as road-test two new spin-off concepts, co-founder Josh Jarvis has told MCA.

The brand, which was founded in Loughton, has taken the former Mother Clucker site in White City Place; the former Ed’s Easy Diner site at The Glades in Bromley; and the site of a former bookshop in Brixton Village.

Jarvis told MCA White City Place may see the wing specialist debut a vegan version of the brand, while Brixton will have a pared back wings bar offer.

Co-founded with Nuru Deenshiro, Wing Shack Co is privately funded, and has also been testing out a breakfast offering, Eggs and Stuff.

Wing Shack has so far tested the London market with pop-ups, in Camden’s The Good Mixer and Selfridge’s & Co, and its own delivery-only kitchens in Canary Wharf, Battersea, and Clerkenwell.

The duo pulled out of another site at the O2 centre on Finchley Road, and are looking for sites in Soho, Notting Hill, Manchester and St Albans.

Jarvis said: “With everything that’s been going on with the pandemic, there’s just so many sites available. A lot of bigger brands are downsizing, and unfortunately other people have stopped running their businesses. 

“Landlords are giving good deals. It goes to show how many opportunities there out there for smaller brands.”

Jarvis said Wing Shack had an edge on other chicken brands in the market as it was founder-led and authentic.

“It’s about the whole experience, the whole vibe of the restaurant,” he added. “You can put a Wing Shack bib on, gloves on, it’s the hospitality, the staff, good music,

“The flavours and the food speak for itself. As a brand it’s authentic. There’s a lot of corporate chicken brands that are coming out, trying to be like us, but they’re not authentic.”