Wingz N Thingz

What Wingz N Thingz does

Epic Wings (legally Sacco Restaurants Inc.) is a privately held, family-owned fast-casual restaurant chain founded in 1982 by the Sacco Family in San Diego, California. Originally operating under the name Wings N' Things, the company rebranded to Epic Wings in 2024 to differentiate from similarly named competitors. The chain operates 34 locations across Southern California, Arizona, Texas, and North Carolina, offering dine-in and carry-out service centered on never-frozen, made-to-order chicken wings and tenderloin strips in 13 homemade sauce varieties, complemented by scratch-baked breadsticks, fries, salads, and desserts. Epic Wings was the first to bring buffalo wings to the West Coast, and its operational discipline explicitly excludes freezers, heat lamps, and microwaves from any location. The franchise program (with $400K liquid assets and $1.5MM net worth minimums) is being used to drive multi-unit growth, supplemented by a community fundraising and youth sports sponsorship program.

The business model combines three revenue streams: (1) point-of-sale revenue from dine-in and carry-out transactions across company-owned and franchise locations; (2) franchise fees and royalties from multi-unit franchisees; and (3) digital ordering revenue via the OLO platform (olo.epicwings.com) and native iOS/Android applications, alongside gift card sales through the MyGuestAccount platform. Customer engagement is driven by the MyEpic Rewards loyalty program (5 points per $1 spent), eClub email marketing, an active Instagram presence (@officialepicwings), and grassroots fundraising partnerships via GroupRaise. The supporting technology stack is intentionally lean and third-party dependent: OLO for ordering, MyGuestAccount for loyalty and gift cards, Google Analytics+ and Meta Pixel for analytics, with no disclosed proprietary technology, API exposure, or AI/ML capabilities.

Epic Wings remains independently owned by the Sacco Family with no disclosed institutional or private equity investment, no funding rounds, and no publicly available revenue figures. Management disclosure is limited to a Sr Brand Manager (Tanya Sparkman). The company's strategic posture is that of a steady, founder-led regional chain pursuing asset-light expansion via franchising into adjacent Sun Belt geographies, while reinvesting in brand identity (rebrand, loyalty overhaul) and owned digital channels (mobile apps, OLO integration) to defend and modestly extend its 40+ year market position.

Name

Wingz N Thingz

Legal name

Sacco Restaurants Inc.

Website

https://epicwings.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1982

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Epic Wings is a family-owned fast-casual chain founded in 1982, operating 34 locations across four U.S. states and serving made-to-order, never-frozen chicken wings, tenderloin strips, and scratch-made sides to individual consumers and franchisees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Fast-casual chicken wing restaurant

NAICS

Full-Service Restaurants (722511)

SIC

Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Chicken & Wings QSR (THAFAAAC)

Keywords

• Fast casual dining
• Chicken wings
• Buffalo wings
• Restaurant franchise
• Loyalty rewards

Headquarters

HQ city

San Diego

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Restaurant Sales (Dine-in and Carry-out): Point-of-sale revenue from customer purchases at restaurant locations for menu items including chicken wings, tenders, breadsticks, fries, salads, and desserts. All orders are made to order with no freezers, heat lamps, or microwaves.
2. Franchise Fees and Royalties: Revenue from franchise operations. Franchise requirements include minimum $400K liquid assets and $1.5MM net worth. The company is actively expanding through multi-unit franchise opportunities.
3. Online and Mobile Ordering: Digital ordering revenue through the Epic Wings website and mobile applications. Orders can be placed online for pickup.
4. Gift Card Sales: Sale of Epic Wings gift cards at restaurant locations and online. Gift cards can be purchased through the myguestaccount.com platform.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Epic Wings is a fast-casual chicken wing restaurant chain operating 34 dine-in and carry-out locations that serve made-to-order, never-frozen chicken wings, hand-breaded tenderloin strips, scratch-made sauces, hand-rolled breadsticks baked daily, sides, salads, and desserts. The company complements the in-restaurant experience with digital ordering (website and iOS/Android apps), the MyEpic Rewards loyalty program, gift cards, multi-unit franchise offerings, and community fundraising programs.

Product overview

Epic Wings (formerly Wings N' Things) is a fast-casual chicken wing restaurant chain founded in 1982 by the Sacco Family, operating on a fresh, never-frozen philosophy. The core product offering centers on chicken wings (Original Buffalo Wings) and tenderloin strips in 13 sauce varieties, complemented by breadsticks (made from scratch daily), combos, family/party packs, salads, and the Cinnabites dessert. Supporting the dine-in and carry-out experience is the MyEpic Rewards loyalty platform (powered by MyGuestAccount) for points earning and redemption, a digital ecosystem including iOS and Android mobile apps integrated with OLO online ordering, and franchise and fundraising programs. The company operates 34 locations across Southern California, Arizona, Texas, and North Carolina.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• MyEpic Rewards: Loyalty rewards program where members earn 5 points per $1 spent and can redeem for free menu items including wings, fries, and combo meals.

Products and services

• Original Buffalo Wings

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Wingstop: Wingstop is the largest US chicken-wing QSR chain with ~2,800+ locations, focused exclusively on bone-in wings, boneless wings, and tenders. It is the most directly comparable competitor to Epic Wings in menu, channel (dine-in, carry-out, delivery), and franchise model, though at vastly greater scale.
• Wing Zone: Wing Zone is a delivery-first chicken wing franchise with a broad sauce menu and franchise-driven expansion model. It is comparable to Epic Wings as a wings-focused chain with franchising as the primary growth lever, though with stronger delivery/digital orientation.
• Buffalo Wild Wings: Buffalo Wild Wings, owned by Inspire Brands, is a national wing-focused casual-dining chain serving Buffalo-style wings and tenders with multiple sauce varieties. It competes with Epic Wings for the same wing-enthusiast customer, particularly in sports and game-day occasions, but at a much larger scale and broader bar-and-grill format.
• Hooters: Hooters is a casual-dining chain where wings are a top category and a major revenue driver alongside other bar food. Comparable to Epic Wings on wings-centric menu construction and casual-dining occasion, but with a different brand positioning around bar-and-grill rather than family/quick-casual.

Emerging players

• Bonchon Korean Fried Chicken: Bonchon is a Korean fried-chicken chain with multiple US locations emphasizing crunch and signature sauces. Comparable to Epic Wings as a chicken-focused chain with sauce-driven differentiation, though differentiated by Korean-style preparation and Asian-fusion positioning.
• Dave's Hot Chicken: Dave's Hot Chicken is a fast-growing Nashville-style hot chicken QSR/chain that includes wings and tenders among menu items. Comparable as a younger chicken-focused chain scaling via franchising into multiple US states, though differentiated by Nashville-hot positioning.
• PDQ Chicken: PDQ is a smaller fast-casual chicken tenders and wings chain with a focus on fresh, made-to-order preparation and franchise expansion. Comparable to Epic Wings on fresh-made positioning, chicken-centric menu, and franchise-driven regional growth, with similar concept architecture.
• Slim Chickens: Slim Chickens is a fast-casual chicken tenders and wings franchise chain expanding across the US. Comparable to Epic Wings on the chicken-centric fast-casual dine-in model and franchise-driven growth, with wings and tenders as core products.
• Wing Boss: Wing Boss is a smaller wings-focused franchise competitor emerging in select US markets with a similar dine-in, carry-out, and delivery model. It is comparable as a newer franchise-driven wing brand targeting similar customer occasions, though significantly smaller in scale.

Broad incumbents

• Raising Cane's: Raising Cane's is a leading US fast-casual chicken-tenders chain with ~900+ locations built on a narrow, chicken-focused menu. Comparable to Epic Wings on the chicken-centric fast-casual model with made-to-order preparation and loyalty-driven frequency, though focused solely on tenders without wings.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/officialepicwings
• Xx.com/EpicWNT
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/epic-wings

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Wingz N Thingz