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Key Takeaways Wing It On started by addressing a simple gap in the market.
Earning nine trophies at the National Buffalo Wing Festival gave the concept proof, not just pride.
Early success and bootstrapping carried Wing It On far, but franchising too soon exposed gaps in systems and support.
Matt Ensero did not set out to build a wing brand. He was trying to solve a simple problem. He was living in Waterbury, Connecticut, hosting friends on Sundays to watch NFL games, and there were no good chicken wings nearby.
“We were in a wing desert within 30 minutes of my house,” Ensero says.
Driving 40 minutes to a bar meant missing the first quarter. Nobody wanted to do that. So Ensero bought a small fryer, started making wings at home and tested recipes on friends. He wrote everything down and kept refining.
Eventually, one of those friends said what everyone else was thinking. “These wings are really damn good,” Ensero recalls him saying. “They’re better than the ones we’re driving halfway across the state to go pick up.”
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That comment turned into a business plan for a quick-service, takeout-focused restaurant concept. When it came time to name and brand the restaurant, Ensero turned to Justin Egan, someone he already knew and trusted from previous work. Sitting in a coffee shop, Ensero talked through the business plan while Egan searched for a name.
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