When a customer goes to a Wingstop location for fried chicken wings, it is a no brainer; the patron expects the chicken wings to be "fried" and "crispy." Absolutely no fried wings lover goes to a Wingstop for say, 'boiled' chicken wings. Were they to do so, I suspect the entire fowl enterprise would change the corporate name to something like, 'Esther's Very Boiled Chicken Wing Shack.' A revised business model that all recognize is never going to happen. Restaurants stay in business by selling food people enjoy, not chow only appropriate for use as an emetic.
I was really surprised then, when Wingstop thought charging me $60.66 for fifty "boiled" chicken wings was acceptable. Wingstop's Manager Joel maintained "steamed" or "par-boiled" chicken wings were just fine. As Joel stated, "so long as the flavor choices given are correct," every order goes out. So rubbery textured, bathed in droplets of hot water, Wingstop par-boiled chicken wings are perfectly reasonable to sell to the public.
In detail, here's what happened:
On February 17, 2019, my family ordered fifty fried chicken wings for take-out from Wingstop. Thirty Garlic Parmesan Classic and twenty Louisiana Rub Classic. The Wingstop Restaurant is #749, located at 1279 North Lake Avenue, Pasadena, CA in the Food For Less shopping center.
Every fried chicken devotee knows, freshly prepared fried chicken has to be packed in a vented container. It is the only way that hot and fried chicken will remain crispy. Condensation and moisture immediately mounts from extreme heat, steam, and par-boiling when fried chicken is taken right out of a fryer and placed in a sealed non-vented metal container. That is the reason why KFC chicken has packed their eight piece in a paper bucket for over sixty years. Other fried chicken houses employ corrugated cardboard box material to pack hot fried products in. As one container manufacturer described, this type of "take-out box balances moisture and keeps your food crispy."
Instead of using the industry standard take-out containers made for fried chicken, Wingstop Restaurant #749 has elected to purchase sealable aluminum foil trays for larger fried chicken wing orders. In other words, Wingstop 'cheaped-out.' The aluminum foil containers are much less expensive than boxes specifically crafted for take-out fried chicken. So for the couple of dimes saved, Wingstop's large fried chicken wing orders are completely ruined.
Attached is a picture of the aluminum tray lid from my Wingstop order. Notice - the lid is dripping with water, from the condensation created by the unvented heat. The fried wings inside the tray were soaking wet, just having been par-boiled from the steam, after already having been fried. As Judge Judy might intone, the result was the creation of "inedible dreck."
Instead of rectifying the situation, Wingstop's Manager Joel refused to replace my order or refund the over sixty dollars spent. Yet, weirdly enough the proverbial chicken fat plot thickens...
Reviewing Wingstop's Better Business Bureau complaints, it appears Wingstop's Corporate Headquarters has consistently engaged in a uniform practice of completely ignoring consumer grievances. Wingstop's Corporate Office has never responded to any of the consumer complaints placed on BBB's website. As one would imagine a rebuffed Dyson vacuum employee might say, "this completely sucks."
So what's next for Wingstop Restaurant?
Will Wingstop start boiling, steaming or par-boiling their French fries and chocolate chip cookies as well as their wings? Perhaps... Either way, it no longer really matters to me.
In addition to letting this poorly run franchise go scratch, I'm journeying out toward the free range pastures of better fried chicken wings elsewhere. Restaurateurs that actually care about providing palatable morsels rather than churning out bottom-of-the-barrel franchise food fare.
Rating On A 1-10 Scale: When Wingstop's Corporate Headquarters could care less, it's time their consumers should similarly fly the coop. read more