FRIED chicken fans will be buzzing after a fast food chain announced it is opening more branches this year.
Wingstop, which currently runs 39 sites across the UK, is set to open a further 15 in 2024.
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Lemon Pepper Holdings, which runs the fast food chain’s UK portfolio, said the move would create up to 750 jobs.
The US hospitality brand said it is its biggest year of expansion since launching Wingstop in the UK six years ago.
It also revealed the locations of nine sites out of 15 which will open this year. Six of the sites are still under negotiation.
This is the full list of confirmed sites that will open this year:
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- Hounslow, London
- Clapham High Street, London
- Watford
- Croydon Valley Retail Park, London
- Wood Green, London
- Lakeside Shopping Centre, Essex
- Westfield Stratford City, London
- Merry Hill, Dudley
- Leeds
Wingstop is known for selling everything from wings and tenders, to burgers and sides made to order.
It already has sites across the UK, including in Cardiff, London, Manchester and Glasgow.
The new 15 sites will launch across across high streets, retail parks and shopping centres.
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Tom Grogan, co-founder of Lemon Pepper Holdings, said 2024 marked the chain’s “biggest ever year of growth”.
“We are proud to be opening across the country and creating up to 750 new jobs,” he added.
“In just five short years as a business, we have certainly made our mark, offering the best-tasting wings in the business alongside an authentic and customised dining experience.
“There is huge momentum, and we are just getting started. We can’t wait for more of the UK to try our delicious food.”
Lemon Pepper Holdings is not the only US brand to announce expansion into the UK in recent years.
Fellow fried chicken chain Popeyes last week revealed rapid expansion plans to nearly double in size in 2024, creating around 2,000 jobs.
The brand, most well-known for its fried chicken sandwiches, said it will open more than 30 new sites across the UK this year, including in Birmingham, Aberdeen and Swansea.
It comes after the fast food chain launched in the UK for the first time in late 2021.
In September last year, beloved US fast food chain Chick-fil-A confirmed it would be opening UK branches over the coming years.
The fried chicken chain said it would pull up the shutters on its first store in early 2025, and then up to five in the following two years.
The announcement came after the chain closed its first ever store in the UK, just six months after opening.
The branch in Reading opened in 2019 but the town centre branch closed in 2020 after its lease expired.
It’s not just US-owned chains set to open branches in the UK either.
Last week, major retailer WHSmith announced plans to open 15 new stores across the UK.
But the new sites won’t be opening on the high street, and instead will be pulling up shutters in airports, railway stations and hospitals.
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B&M is also opening 17 new locations in January and February, including in former Wilko stores.
Asda also plans to open 21 new locations before the end of the month as well.
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