Following his service, Peters rose through the ranks of the food and beverage industry before he and his business partner, Todd Roberts, opened the first Wing Daddy’s Sauce House franchise in Little Elm in 2015.
“We chose Little Elm because it was right next to Frisco, which was the second-fastest growing city in the United States,” he said. “We did pretty well. ... It’s very hard to bring a new concept to one of the largest markets in the United States.”
Following Little Elm, Peters opened the Plano franchise in 2017 and plans to add 10 more locations throughout North Texas, including one in Corinth. He said Wing Daddy’s was started by two friends from El Paso, which is coincidentally where Peters was adopted and stationed in the military.
The business now has 30 locations and several sister concepts, but Peters and Roberts remain the sole franchisees. As a former top manager for the company, Peters said the owners trusted him to take the business to Dallas-Fort Worth.
“They are not planning on franchising any more; they are making more concepts and running them all on the corporate side,” he said.
What separates Wing Daddy’s from a big-name brand such as Hooters is that it not only welcomes families but also encourages patrons to bring their kids, Peters said. The business takes great pride in its made-to-order menu items and 23 made-from-scratch sauces ranging from sweet to spicy.
“We have a variety for people that want something super spicy or somebody that has really bad acid reflux,” he said.
Peters said he doubted whether businesses like his would survive the pandemic. The locations of his restaurants are what saved them from going under, he said. To-go sales doubled, and Peters was able to keep all of his key employees.
“I really thought the smaller restaurants, the ones that aren’t big box or big franchises, would die,” he said. “Fortunately, us picking the spots we did ... it helped us because people stayed home and closer to where they felt comfortable.”
Wing Daddy's Sauce House
3115 W. Parker Road, Ste. 400, Plano
469-969-0584
www.wingdaddys.com
Hours: Sun.-Thu. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. , Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-midnight
