New Wing Joint Plans Summer Opening At Moncton’s Granite Centre
MONCTON – A restaurant chain with origins in Newfoundland is preparing to spread its wings in Moncton, with its first franchise set to open in the city’s north end this summer.
In a call with Huddle, Charlene Michelin, owner-operator of a Wing’n It franchise coming to Moncton confirmed plans to open the new-to-New Brunswick aviation-themed restaurant in the Granite Center.
When it opens this summer, Wing’n It will join a roster of tenants that includes Take It Outside and Simply For Life at 140 Granite Drive, and will be the first Wing’n It in New Brunswick.
Michelin said fit-up work for the restaurant’s berth has begun–she hopes to open the doors within 65 days of the work finishing up–which would be sometime in late July.
“I’m new to the area so we did some research on trying to find locations, this one happened to come up and it’s a newer building, which is easier for renovating it to what you want it to be, and the location is good because it’s beside Costco,” said Michelin, who hails from North West River, Labrador.
“It’s an upcoming, newly developed area, so we just thought the location was perfect, with Costco and all the traffic that ends up going through there.”
Wing’n It, headquartered in Torbay, specializes in pub-style fare and has an extensive catalogue of wings in a variety of unique flavours, with their spiciness on a 1-5 scale of intensity, bearing names that are nods to aviation history, like Amelia Earhart, Mayday, and Kamikaze.
The Wing’n It opening in the Granite Center will occupy a space of about 1,795-square-feet, a smaller-sized venue with a pared-down menu the company has dubbed the Wing’n It Express – an adaptation to pandemic restrictions in the last two years with a streamlined menu and focus on takeout and delivery.
“The standard size Wing’n It was a family restaurant, you’d go in and sit down and it was more designed for family eating and stuff, but due to Covid-19, with restaurants closing and doing takeout, they brought in Wing’n It Express, which is more like McDonald’s or Mary Brown’s,” explained Michelin.
“You place your order, sit down, they call your number, and you pick it up.”
Michelin noted her franchise will be “more on the bigger side” for an express, adding that her original plan involved leasing a bigger footprint at the Granite Center, before settling on its current spot.
The cost of setting up a Wing’n It in the Granite Center will be just north of $500,000. That price has been impacted by the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the recent spikes in fuel prices.
“We were expecting $500,000, but with everything put in we’re probably going over because the cost of everything is going up, from building supplies and all that – so there have been extra costs in the budget,” said Michelin.
Some of the fit-up work for Moncton’s new Wing’n It will be carried out by Moncton-based RCS Construction Inc. Michelin noted an Ontario contractor will also be responsible for some of the work.
Wing’n It, which launched in 2010 in St. John’s, has locations across Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. It has about 20 locations open across the country, with more opening this summer.
Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].