Wingstop moves into retail parks

Lemon Pepper Holdings, the UK master franchisee and brand partner of the American chicken wing concept, has confirmed it has acquired a former Bella Italia site at Gallions Reach. The 100+ cover venue will open in late March or early April.

Wingstop opened 11 sites in the UK in 2022 and currently has 29 locations across the country, with presence in key cities including London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Edinburgh.

The company saw weekly sales revenue exceed £1m towards the end of 2022, with like-for-like sales in January 2023 50% on 2022.

Lemon Pepper Holdings expects to exceed 2022 growth numbers, with several new locations secured to open this year.

Tom Grogan, co-founder and director of Lemon Pepper Holdings, said: “Off the back of an extremely strong year of trade in 2022, we’re delighted to have started the year with another great acquisition. The location of the scheme and prominence of the unit is ideal.

“We have a young target catchment on our doorstep, with over 66% of catchment population under 40 and we can’t wait to start serving the local community our cooked to order flavours!”