Wingstop Inc. is rolling out its proprietary MyWingstop platform to the domestic system this week, officials said.
“This is something we've invested in over the last three years,” said Michael Skipworth, Wingstop CEO, during an interview last week at the company’s corporate headquarters in Addison, Texas, “and we're really excited about how this is going to be a step forward and really enable us to continue our journey to digitizing every transaction.”
At the end of last year, Wingstop was at 67% digital transactions. The company has a goal of digitizing 100% of transactions.
The company had relied on a system of white-label digital platforms created by third-party companies
“This is going to allow us to lean into hyper-personalization and continue to drive consideration conversion -- and ultimately frequency -- with our digital guests over time,” Skipworth said. “we're really excited about protecting and investing in a digital business that is now over $2 billion.”
The MyWingstop platform has been tested in about 150 of the company’s more than nearly 2,000 U.S. restaurants.
“The test has been going great,” Skipworth said. “We're really excited about the early results, and we feel like we've created a pilot program that gives us a lot of confidence going into the launch.”
Skipworth said the company, which plans to move its corporate headquarters to a Dallas address late this year or early next, has amassed a database of 40 million users.
“We've invested in that data,” he said, “and so this is actually going to allow us to continue to acquire more data on our guests but then lean in and actually use that data to personalize that guest experience as they engage with our brand digitally.”
The company three years ago began investing $50 million in the proprietary technology stack, Skipworth noted in the fourth-quarter earnings call. The investment was also aimed at increasing average unit volumes of Wingstop units, which hit $1.8 million in the third quarter, up from $1.7 million in the second quarter. The company is targeting AUVs of $2 million per store.
Skipworth said Wingstop corporate plans to keep the platform cost-neutral, working with franchisees to pay for the program.
“It is providing more insights and more visibility into the business within the four walls of the restaurants for our brand partners,” Skipworth said. “The additional analytics will just further help them improve profitability overtime, which is which is pretty exciting, and, as we deploy this, we will be replacing certain costs that sit on their P and L [profit-and-loss statements] today.”
As of Dec. 30, the end of the 2023 fourth quarter, the company had 2,214 Wingstop restaurants systemwide. That included 1,926 restaurants in the United States, of which 1,877 were franchised restaurants and 49 were company-owned, and 288 franchised restaurants were in international markets and U.S. territories.
Wingstop saw its domestic same-store sales rise 21.2% in 2023 fourth quarter.
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