One of Hollister’s larger shopping centers has recently gained a new restaurant. A branch of the Wingstop chain has opened off of the Airline Highway, in a commercial space that previously was occupied by a Starbucks location. The chicken wings chain has been expanding its reach since its charter location opened in Garland, Texas in 1994. Since then, the eatery has broadened its scope to more than 800 sites in six countries; its most recent opening in Hollister is an indication of San Benito County’s recent growth as a city that is daily becoming more attractive to commuters and businesses.
This past Friday, BenitoLink spoke to a Wingstop manager named Emrick about the company’s plans for the newest Hollister site. “Hollister’s always been a great town,” he says. “Three to four months ago we started construction and people started coming by even back then, getting excited about this place opening up. We’re hoping to have a grand opening to get the whole community together. We haven’t had anything like that yet – we’re waiting for the whole staff to get trained and settle in. But a grand opening should happen in September. When that happens, it’ll be a full event, and we’ll get a DJ out here from a radio station maybe, have music, fun. We’re excited to be part of the community.”
“We picked Hollister because it’s a growing city,” says Emrick, speaking of Wingstop’s expansion decision. “I feel like it’s a town that needs great food, and right now there‘s not a lot of places here to eat. People were getting excited – we already have a lot of regulars. We have a high school team that comes in a lot, a lot of people who we already recognize the names of. We want to make sure that every guest who comes in here gets the ‘wow’ experience. We aim to build guest relationships, recognize people’s names automatically. We don’t want to treat people like a customer–they’re coming into our house, so we want to welcome them and serve them with good food, good atmosphere, good music. It all comes those things.”
Wingstop’s community-oriented atmosphere has already stuck a chord with many Hollister residents – despite having only been open for a few weeks now, the place is regularly busy throughout the week. On a recent Friday afternoon, the small eatery was packed with lunchtime customers.
“We do little friends and family nights before we open to let the cooks cashiers and crew members can get their feet wet,” Emrick explains of the store-opening process. “Once that gets going, we’ll wait to have a grand opening until the crew settles down.”
When asked about other events that the relatively new Wingstop might have planned for the community, Emrick added, “Right now, the only upcoming event we’re looking at is the grand opening in September. If other events do come up, maybe we’ll do something like a hot wings competition, see who can eat the most atomic wings. We’re thinking about building a patio too, but we have to make sure that’s OK with the city and all our neighbors. We’re hoping to build it big enough to seat 40 to 50 people. We’re waiting on approval from the city on that–if the city approves it and all the plans work out, that should hopefully be done in a month or so. Fingers crossed.”
For those who are considering stopping by the new Wingstop for a bite to eat, a word of advice from one manager: “A lot of people are familiar with our Hot Garlic wings, but they aren’t actually on our menu! People around here know about them, though, so we get a lot of those orders.” Check back with BenitoLink for more information about the upcoming Wingstop grand opening, and the status of its plans to build an outdoor patio.
To check out the menu or order online, click here.
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