Fast food firm Wingstop UK adding branches in Edinburgh's Fountain Park and Glasgow's St Enoch Centre

A rapidly expanding casual dining chain serving chicken has announced that it is spreading its wings with the opening of two new Scottish sites.

Wingstop UK is opening its second site in Edinburgh, in Fountain Park, on December 11. Picture: contributed.

Wingstop UK is opening its first Glasgow outlet today, while its second site in Edinburgh (further to its premises in the St James Quarter) is opening on December 11, bringing its total number of branches across the UK to 39 and workforce to more than 1,600.

It is opening in Glasgow’s St. Enoch Centre, its first dine-in unit in the city where it already has a delivery operation located south of the Clyde. Next month, the firm that is aimed at a “Gen Z” customer base will open in Fountain Park in the Scottish capital, complementing its first site in the city which it says is the St James Quarter’s top food destination in terms of sales and visits. Delivery firm Deliveroo in July of this year said chicken wings from Wingstop were among the most popular dishes in the capital.

Tom Grogan, co-founder of Lemon Pepper Holdings, master franchisee, Wingstop UK, said: “We are so excited to be opening two new sites in Scotland – our popularity at Edinburgh’s St James Quarter, which is the number one restaurant by footfall in the centre, just shows how the Scots are hungry for our wings. Having celebrated our five-year anniversary in the UK just last month, we want to say ‘thank you’ to our loyal customers and the hard work of our team. We’re only just getting started, and are excited for what’s to come.”

Wingstop UK is part of US-based, Nasdaq-listed Wingstop group, which was founded in 1994, is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and operates and franchises more than 2,000 locations worldwide, saying it is one of the fastest-growing restaurant chains in the world.

The UK arm was launched after the three co-founders cold-called the US, got the master franchisee in the UK, and earlier this year was ranked the 23rd-fastest growing business in the country, with annual sales growth over three years of 133.8 per cent. It is now forecasting revenue of £65 million this year, adding another 500 people, and targeting 40 sites by the end of 2023.”