Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Wing King marks its success with 2nd shop


By Elie Fortune and Nikita Singh
Bengal News West Reporters
A Hertel Avenue restaurant will bring its specialty chicken wing flavors, which include Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Nutella and peanut butter and jelly, to the West Side.
Wing Kings, 1281 Hertel Ave, is set to arrive in Elmwood Village at 484 Elmwood Ave.
            Jeremie Jones, owner of Wing Kings, is a Buffalo native who believes the success of his business served as an opportunity to move forward from his troubled past.
Before he became a restaurant owner, Jones was arrested and charged with illegal use of a cell phone for a felony act. For a year, he was required to wear an ankle monitor and was placed on probation for a few years until he got off early due to excellent behavior.
Jones’ record could interfere with the progress of Wing Kings but he was determined to leave his past behind him.
Jones attributes much of the restaurants success to social media. On Facebook, Wing Kings has over 3,500 likes and a 4.9 out of 5 rating. On Yelp it received 4 out of 5 stars and on Seamless, 5 out of 5 stars.
“With social media, “Jones said. “We were able to tap into our old clients from the Buffalo Summer Club and staying in contact with those people. I just think that our chicken following from our crazy flavors, and the neighborhood that we’re in, it’s a perfect, right in the middle neighborhood in Buffalo.”
Jones also believes much of Wing Kings’ popularity derives from his unique list of flavors. For Jones, operating in the home of the buffalo wing, served as a stepping stone for creativity.
 The buffalo wing only consists of a hot wing. With us, we bring all the original flavors and then mix and match with exotic flavors, making them homemade,” Jones said.
Aaron Osbourne, Jones’ cousin and percentage owner of Wing Kings, believed his skills along with Jones’ could create something special if they went into business together.
Jones and Osbourne chose the West Side for their business because they saw an opportunity to expand and viewed it as the perfect location.
“We didn’t really want to go downtown with the just the regular take out, small sit-down restaurant,” Jones said. “Elmwood to us was like the most popular street in Buffalo when it comes to bars and food. So, I felt like Elmwood for the second location was going to help us in our goal to open up a sports bar with Wing Kings in the near year or so.