When Bobby Saenz opened his first Wing Barn on Boca Chica Boulevard in Brownsville on May 27, 2010, his goal was to eventually get to 10 stores.
He achieved that goal with the grand opening of the company’s second Edinburg location on June 23, an event Saenz admitted was “pretty special to me.” Now he’s turning it up to 11 with a second McAllen Wing Barn, scheduled to open in less than two months.
In addition to the two Edinburg locations and soon-to-be two McAllen stores, the company has another one in Brownsville, two in Harlingen and one each in one in Olmito, San Juan and Weslaco. The original Brownsville store has doubled in size and recently completed a remodel.
Just staying in business during a global pandemic is a rough undertaking for a restaurant, but actually growing a restaurant chain during one is something else again, as Saenz has learned first hand.
“It’s been tough,” he said. “These past couple of years have been a significant challenge to us. It’s one thing after another, and it’s just trying to find a way to get it going and get it done.”
One of the more serious issues Wing Barn and every other chicken wing purveyor in America had to contend with during the peak of the pandemic was a shortage of a key menu item: wings. There simply weren’t enough of them to go around.
“You call your supplier and he says I don’t have any wings to send you — that’s a problem,” Saenz said. “We were definitely scrambling to get our supply. We had to go through different vendors at different times to try to get what we needed. On top of that our price went up over 100 percent, literally 100 percent within a month and a half or two.”
That cut into the company’s margins of course, as have the higher wages necessary just to get prospective hires in the door much less keep them. The endless supply chain irritations have included not being able to source cups with the Wing Barn logo for more than a year, which drives Saenz crazy.
“I hate just having the plain, white cup, but it’s out of our control,” he said. “But it’s coming back soon. That’s already in the works now.”
The company, like other restaurants, has been forced to raise its menu prices in order to keep making money, though Saenz said he’s loathe to do it and is being very cautious.
“You never want to do that,” he said. “We’ve always been known for value and we want to stick to that.”
With that in mind, Wing Barn is “going all in” on a two-for-one wing special in August and September, Saenz said.
“I’m just trying to bring value back, because I know everybody’s feeling it,” he said. “When it costs an extra $30 or $40 for every fill-up, that doesn’t allow you to go out to eat.”
Meanwhile, the worker shortage seems to be abating as more people look for jobs and applications are picking up, Saenz said. He credits his management team for helping the company navigate the unprecedented last two and a half years, plus whatever lies ahead. Saenz admitted the way forward hasn’t always been clear.
“Are we headed in the right direction? I feel some pressure when I have 250 employees, because I feel like we’re a family,” he said. “They’re part of my family. I’ve got to make sure that I’m here for them and that I’m making the right choice. It’s definitely been top of mind.”
With the opening of Wing Barn No. 11 in south McAllen, it will be time to take a break and take stock, analyze, regroup and generally make sure all operations are running optimally, Saenz said.
“With rapid expansion you have to make sure the team is still consistent and making sure everything is getting done right,” he said.
Once inflation eases and the economic winds blow more favorably, the company will be poised to resume growth mode, opening more locations in the Rio Grande Valley and eventually outside it, Saenz said.
“That’s what I’m praying for and looking forward to is just, man, let’s get through this,” he said. “And at the end of the day we’ll be positioned in the right places. We’ll have 11 stores and at that point the sky’s the limit and we’re looking for the positive future.”
