Seneca Wallace's Wingstop

[SCNCY]

I have gone to Wing Stop before, and waiting 30 minutes does seem like a long time. To be fair, they make the wings and fries to order, so it will take longer than other fast food locations, even longer than some fast causal locations. But with that being said, 30 minutes seems too long.

If I had a location closer to me, I would probably go there every now and then. I think the food is good. I don't particularly like their buffalo sauce, as I think it tastes too buttery. But their other sauces I enjoy.

 

[CYdTracked]

That is too long of a wait, but do wonder why you wouldn't order ahead if you know you are going there?

2nd, you can tell they push the boneless wings. Their specials are always boneless, they seem to come out faster (as you experienced) and even when they were interviewing Seneca one ime he seemed to hint that boneless wings were what they specialized in.

I prefer bone-in, but do generally do boneless if ordering at Wing Stop for the reasons mentioned.

We decided on the drive up we'd give it a try so it wasn't really a planned trip and ordering ahead did not cross our minds. For the size of that place you shouldn't need to call ahead, there maybe was 20 people at most seated when we walked in the door maybe even less than that. I get it, boneless are probably quicker because they are probably pre-breaded so just have to throw them in the fryer and sauce them where a bone in wing takes longer to fry but you'd think a place like that would always be frying up wings during the lunch rush that you wouldn't be frying just 4 or 8 wings at a time as you do each order right?

Just saying, in this day of age people aren't going to wait 30-45 minutes for 8 wings and fries at any place. I can get a pound of wings ordered from Pizza Pit when I'm at Welch Ave Station and it is busy in less time than that and their wings are twice as meaty as Wing Stop. Granted they only serve 2 kinds and don't have multiple flavors so they always have some in the fryer but I can't imagine that the wings Wing Stop fries aren't the same going into the fryer then flavored afterwards right? Not trying to intentionally knock on the place because I want to see Seneca succeed but I do worry if that long of wait is the norm for just walking in the door for the first time without any prior experience there is going to lead to a lot of repeat business.

 

[dosry5]

I’ve had Wingstop once, from Seneca’s locale. It’ll be the last time. They just aren’t good when compared to getting wings from Jethro’s or Smokey D’s or other places. When “wings” is in the name you’d think you’d be really good at it. I know I’ll get flamed for this since a cyclone legend owns it.....but it just isn’t that good.

 

[capitalcityguy]

I’ve had Wingstop once, from Seneca’s locale. It’ll be the last time. They just aren’t good when compared to getting wings from Jethro’s or Smokey D’s or other places. When “wings” is in the name you’d think you’d be really good at it. I know I’ll get flamed for this since a cyclone legend owns it.....but it just isn’t that good.

I don't think your take is crazy I would just challenge your expectations a bit.

Burger King has "Burger" in their name but I wouldn't expect their burger to be better than a sit down restaurant's burger.

I guess I tend to tailor my expectations based on venue. These are basically fast food shops located in strip malls. I would think you would and should expect more from the places you mentioned.

Generally speaking, there are trade offs for going with convenience. At Wing Stop you can almost always park near the front door, run in and grab your stuff, and be gone in a matter of minutes.

 

[clonefreek]

I was the only person in the merle hay mall location at 9 oclock at night and they had at least 6 people working and I waited 45 minutes for wings. I sat by the cash register and could see into the kitchen. They dropped my wings, pulled them out, sauced them and then dropped my fries into a completely different fryer after wings were done and sitting on the counter. During my wait I saw 3 dance breaks, 2 conversations of employees sex lives and could smell weed. I am all for someone having fun at work, but thats a little ridiculous. I asked for a manager and they said there wasnt one. I definitely will not be back.

 

[CYdTracked]

I was the only person in the merle hay mall location at 9 oclock at night and they had at least 6 people working and I waited 45 minutes for wings. I sat by the cash register and could see into the kitchen. They dropped my wings, pulled them out, sauced them and then dropped my fries into a completely different fryer after wings were done and sitting on the counter. During my wait I saw 3 dance breaks, 2 conversations of employees sex lives and could smell weed. I am all for someone having fun at work, but thats a little ridiculous. I asked for a manager and they said there wasnt one. I definitely will not be back.

Dang, I was wondering if maybe the Merle Hay location maybe didn't have the same problems but that sounds even worse. Should almost shoot Seneca a note on his social media or something about that experience as if he's as involved as he says he is when he talks about his business on the radio that is something he surely would not be happy to hear about.

It's one of those things where I'm sure everyone here would love to support Seneca and make his place a regular stop but based on some of the stories people here have of it they need to work on the service. The food and the price is not the problem, I'm not expecting huge meaty wings when an 8 wing basket with a generous portion of fries and a drink costs less than $10 but no one wants to wait 30-45 minutes to get it. Someone mentioned temper your expectations like you would with Burger King, well at least with BK even on a bad day I can usually still get my food within 10 minutes of ordering it. At least with places like BWW, Jethros, etc you can still get an appetizer and draft beers while you wait too.

 

[jbindm]

It's one of those things where I'm sure everyone here would love to support Seneca and make his place a regular stop but based on some of the stories people here have of it they need to work on the service. The food and the price is not the problem, I'm not expecting huge meaty wings when an 8 wing basket with a generous portion of fries and a drink costs less than $10 but no one wants to wait 30-45 minutes to get it. Someone mentioned temper your expectations like you would with Burger King, well at least with BK even on a bad day I can usually still get my food within 10 minutes of ordering it. At least with places like BWW, Jethros, etc you can still get an appetizer and draft beers while you wait too.

Good, fast, cheap. Pick two.

 

[cycloneG]

What's keeping people from ordering ahead? You can order on Wingstop's website or through their app. It's way more convenient than ordering at the register.

 

[sadam]

I was the only person in the merle hay mall location at 9 oclock at night and they had at least 6 people working and I waited 45 minutes for wings. I sat by the cash register and could see into the kitchen. They dropped my wings, pulled them out, sauced them and then dropped my fries into a completely different fryer after wings were done and sitting on the counter. During my wait I saw 3 dance breaks, 2 conversations of employees sex lives and could smell weed. I am all for someone having fun at work, but thats a little ridiculous. I asked for a manager and they said there wasnt one. I definitely will not be back.

I doubt Seneca is too involved and probably wants to sit back and collect money. Non involved ownership is going to lead to that kind of behavior from employees. People that work at a fast food place are going to need to some supervision by someone who has meat in the game to keep them in line.

 

[Bipolarcy]

Wait times at Wing Stop where I live are always pretty long. I order in advance and just go to pick them up, but always have to wait a while before it's ready. My drive is about 15 minutes to get there as well.

 

[jbindm]

I doubt Seneca is too involved and probably wants to sit back and collect money. Non involved ownership is going to lead to that kind of behavior from employees. People that work at a fast food place are going to need to some supervision by someone who has meat in the game to keep them in line.

Ever seen The Founder? What you're saying kind of reminds me about how McDonald's went from a local place to a franchising giant.

 

[sadam]

Ever seen The Founder? What you're saying kind of reminds me about how McDonald's went from a local place to a franchising giant.

No I haven’t, I remember seeing it advertised. Worth watching?

 

[jbindm]

No I haven’t, I remember seeing it advertised. Worth watching?

It's fine. Good cast. Kind of slow paced and I don't know how historically accurate it is, but it was kind of interesting to think about American dining pre-fast food because it's just such a part of American culture anymore.

 

[Cyclone.TV]

Wait times at Wing Stop where I live are always pretty long. I order in advance and just go to pick them up, but always have to wait a while before it's ready. My drive is about 15 minutes to get there as well.

Why does it take so long to cook wings?

 

[capitalcityguy]

I doubt Seneca is too involved and probably wants to sit back and collect money. Non involved ownership is going to lead to that kind of behavior from employees. People that work at a fast food place are going to need to some supervision by someone who has meat in the game to keep them in line.

That is why you must hire a great manager when you live out of state.

 

[capitalcityguy]

At least with places like BWW, Jethros, etc you can still get an appetizer and draft beers while you wait too.

Had a chuckle a little bit with the idea of ordering appetizer while waiting on wings.

fyi...you can order and drink a beer while waiting at Wingstop....at least the Des Moines location and I assume Ames' too. I don't think they sell beer at all Wing Stops though.

 

[jbindm]

That is why you must hire a great manager when you live out of state.

Tough to find qualified people for fast food jobs, even management.

 

[CYdTracked]

What's keeping people from ordering ahead? You can order on Wingstop's website or through their app. It's way more convenient than ordering at the register.

IMO you shouldn't have to order ahead online to a place that is technically a fast food type joint. If I was doing carry out it makes more sense. If that's the only way you are going to avoid a 30-45 minute wait for your food to eat at the location that is a horrible business model for that type of place. You are going to lose a lot of potential customers that may just stop in on a whim for the first time like I did who will be disappointed and frustrated when they spend that long waiting on food that shouldn't take that long to prepare. It's probably not a "must have" type of place to be banking on most of your dine-in customers knowing that they ought to order ahead. Some people here said they even had to wait longer than the time they quoted them for carry out too.

I may sound old saying this which I'm not technically that "old" at 39 but what happened to businesses striving/taking pride for having good service these days instead of consumers just accepting subpar service as the norm? Look at all the business a place like Hickory Park does where they turn tables pretty quickly even with a high volume of people dining there. Even the chain joints like Old Chicago, BWW, Applebees, etc. with a lot bigger variety of items on their menus and more volume churn out food quicker and you don't need to order ahead there to get in/out in a reasonable amount of time. Heck I got a free basket meal at Culvers last month because I had to wait 10 minutes over my lunch break and found out someone had either given my order to someone else or misplaced the order slip. I wasn't upset at all, they usually are quick and it was probably an honest mistake but the manager apologized and asked if I wanted a free concrete (it was terribly cold out that day so that did not sound good to me) I just said give me a larger size of fries or something and I'd be good but instead he handed me a card for a free basket combo which I was not expecting. That's the kind of service that will keep a customer coming back when you acknowledge the service they got was not up to par instead of making excuses for it.

There's 1 place I have yet to go back to in Ames after a horrible experience years ago and that is West Towne Pub. We got there plenty early before a game and it wasn't that busy when we sat down. It took our waitress nearly 15 minutes to even get us a menu after we had to make a point to ask her for them then after waiting nearly an hour for our order to come out after we were told multiple times it "would be out really soon" and the place starting to empty out to head to the game we said screw it and asked for our drink bill and canceled our food order. The manager came out and apologized and said they "got caught off guard with the game day crowd." We said that was a lame excuse because you damn well knew there was a game today in advance and could staff accordingly. Didn't get offered an many places do when they screw up. I'll probably try the place again at some point but that 1 experience turned everyone with us off of going there all this time. I'm a pretty patient customer for the most part but it's not like these places don't know that on a game day you are going to get more business than usual and need to be staffed accordingly so you can get people in & out in a reasonable amount of time once they place their order.

 

[Cyrocks]

I doubt Seneca is too involved and probably wants to sit back and collect money. Non involved ownership is going to lead to that kind of behavior from employees. People that work at a fast food place are going to need to some supervision by someone who has meat in the game to keep them in line.

As others have noted, this is a recipe for disaster. If you can't or don't want to be there in person, then you better have a good manager there to take care of the customers.

 

[capitalcityguy]

Tough to find qualified people for fast food jobs, even management.

Tough to find at all levels in this industry. You're going to have to pay well with the expectation that this person is willing to work 60+ hr a week, holidays, and be constantly trying to hire new help....while trying to retain current entry level svc industry employees. Tough gig.