East Coast Wings & Grill Spreads Wings Outside of North Carolina Hub, Opens First of Six Local Restaurants in San Antonio

(Franchise Buy) - By . Updated Mar 6, 2013

Winston Salem, N.C. – Known for its 75 flavors of award-winning buffalo-style wings, East Coast Wings & Grill recently opened its first restaurant outside of the company’s North Carolina hub.

Located at 2120 West Oaklawn Drive in Pleasanton, the new restaurant is the first of six slated for the western half of San Antonio and set a company record for opening week sales, exceeding the systemwide average by nearly thirty percent.

“It’s always nerve-racking breaking into a new market, as you never know how people are going to respond to your brand,” said Sam Ballas, CEO of East Coast Wings & Grill. “This is the first restaurant we developed outside of North Carolina and we are extremely pleased to see so much positive feedback. This new location not only marks the first for San Antonio, but the first of many more to come across the nation.”

According to Ballas, East Coast Wings & Grill has more than 100 additional restaurants currently under development and expects to open nearly 15 locations by the end of 2013, including sites in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

The Pleasonton restaurant is owned and operated by brothers Nimesh and Dharmesh Patel. Nimesh, a practicing physician and entrepreneur with three urgent care centers in San Antonio, and Dharmesh, a lifelong hospitality professional, have committed to opening a total of six locations in the San Antonio area. Having grown up in New Orleans, the brothers were very critical of taste and, after exploring a variety of options, determined that East Coast Wings & Grill provided the business model and quality food in which they were looking for.

“East Coast Wings & Grill operates their own corporate restaurants and focuses on the bottom line, just like we do,” said Nimesh. “They eliminated our previously held concerns that the demands of many franchisors, at times, make no business or real world sense. We could not be more excited about our recent opening and we are glad to be partnering with them to expand the concept outside of North Carolina.”

Proving the concept is successful in any economic climate with 36 consecutive quarters of same-store sales increases, East Coast Wings & Grill is far different from the norm in the chicken wing segment. With a focus on great-tasting, freshly prepared food for families, deviating from the standard alcohol-driven environment typical of wing concepts (alcohol sales attribute for less than 11 percent of total sales), the flourishing brand creates a warm and inviting décor that leaves customers feeling a sense of community. And while its 75 flavors of buffalo style wings, all of which are offered in any of 9 heat-intensity indexes, remain a staple of the concept, East Coast Wings & Grill’s six-page menu also includes such casual dining fare as burgers, salads, sandwiches and more.

About East Coast Wings & Grill

East Coast Wings & Grill, a fast growing casual dining chicken wing franchise, has 24 locations, 23 in North Carolina, and has signed agreements to add over 100 new restaurants across the country within the next several years. The franchise concept not only caters to the chicken wing lover by offering 75 different flavors of chicken wings in any of nine heat intensities, but also salads, wraps, sandwiches, burgers and more, all using fresh, not frozen ingredients. To learn more about the franchise concept or about exciting franchise opportunities please contact Dan Collins, SVP Brand Development at 954-263-2056, or visit www.eastcoastwingsfranchise.com.