Wingstop was founded in 1994 in Garland, Texas. The chain was created by Antonio Swad and Bernadette Fiaschetti, beginning as a restaurant built around chicken wings and a distinctive 1930s-and-1940s aviation theme.
Garland, a city in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, was the setting for the brand’s early development. Wingstop did not begin franchising immediately: its first franchised restaurant opened in 1997, three years after the original business was established. That distinction explains why 1997 is sometimes mistakenly given as the founding year.
The company expanded from its Texas base and eventually became a major international fast-food chain. It went public in 2015, when its initial public offering priced shares at $19 each. The menu later broadened beyond traditional bone-in wings; Wingstop added boneless products in 2009 and subsequently developed other chicken offerings.
Another common mix-up is confusing the founding city with the company’s later headquarters locations. Garland is the correct answer for the brand’s origin, while the corporate headquarters later moved elsewhere in the Dallas area.