Wing Shack celebrated its 15th anniversary this June, something owner Brian Seifried attributes to “a lot of duct tape and good karma.”
Seifried was 20 years old whenhe fell into an opportunity to open a restaurant with his brother.
“We were fortunate enough toscrape together a few dollars,” Seifried says. “We identified Greeley as aplace that didn’t have a restaurant specializing in wings and was a collegetown. The rents were affordable.”
They found their location on 8thAvenue, where they rented the restaurant space for $750 per month and lived inthe apartment above for $450 per month. Other challenges like realizing whenthey went to get a business license that they were actually located in GardenCity, not Greeley, discovering the night before opening that they hadn’t madeany sauce recipes, and opening a hot kitchen in June with no air and a fan thatdidn’t work.
“The fan didn’t work so there was a lot of this thick greasy smoke,” Seifried said. “I was standing between the kitchen and dining room full of smoke, pouring sweat, but it was full of people eating and enjoying themselves. There was even a long-line of people waiting to get it to go. I thought, ‘That’s what it’s all about.’ ”
Seifried bought out his brothershortly after opening and has grown the Wing Shack to six locations and a foodtruck.
“We source local ingredientsand use quality chicken,” he says. “All chicken wings are not created equal.Our chickens are all-natural, vegetarian-fed, humanely slaughtered andair-chilled.”
He also attributes his staffand their customer service philosophy to the company’s success.
“We always treat people likethey’re our neighbor,” Seifried says. “We have a sense of hospitality andtaking care of people. Wings aren’t fancy but they’re fun. It’s people sharingtime with friends or family. Food creates bonds, brings out emotions andreminds you of things. Having a passion for people and pride in what we do is abig part of it.”
Seifried believes that the WingShack should give back to the community through sponsorships and partnershipswith schools and other non-profits.
“It’s part of what it means to be a small business in a small community,” he said. “Being a part of the community and building connections with people who were generous to help get us off the ground. We’re grateful to the community for all the support and love we’ve received. People are conscious of supporting individual restaurants and businesses. Local restaurants give soul to a community.”
Wing Shack continues to growand move forward with new innovations and new projects Seifried undertakes. Hislatest creation, locally-owned NoCo Nosh. NoCo Nosh is a co-op, food deliveryservice developed between 35 restaurants in Greeley, Fort Collins and Lovelandto help protect restaurants from services like Grub Hub and Door Dash.
“It’s better for restaurants and drivers,” Seifried said. “Wing Shack is now delivering for the first time in 15 years. It’s the biggest innovation at Wing Shack since the boneless wing.”