A new chicken restaurant is planned to take over a vacant spot at 250 State Street, which has been vacant for nearly nine years, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
Baked Wings, a chicken shop specializing in baked wings, is planned to open in January of 2024, according to co-owner Scott Frank. This will be the second location of the establishment. The first location opened in Rockford, Illinois last November.
Frank said the decision to open a second location in Madison was made after looking at spots within an hour of the original Rockford location.
“Madison checks all the boxes … People love Madison,” Frank said. “They want to go to college there. They want to work there. They want to live there. They want to raise a family there and we look forward to being there forever. Not for five years, not for ten years, but forever.”
The concept for Baked Wings came from starting a ghost kitchen during the COVID-19 pandemic, Frank said. When his Italian restaurant was temporarily closed to indoor dining, Frank’s business partner Bryan Suh suggested starting a ghost kitchen. According to The Conversation, a ghost kitchen is a space for operators to make food for off-site consumption.
Frank then experimented with chicken wings before selling baked wings with dry rubs from the ghost kitchen. He said this process allowed the wings to travel better and offered customers a healthier option.
The ghost kitchen helped the restaurant and eventually became successful enough to create a new restaurant dedicated to baked wings. Last November, Frank teamed up with Suh and third co-owner Marty McKinney to officially open the first Baked Wings restaurant.
Frank said the new location plans to be split into a carry-out and bar/sit-down area and hopes to hire as many university students as possible.
“We were all college students at one time,” Frank said. “I’m 45 years old. I get it. I know what it’s like to have absurd debt and need a job … I get that college kids need to study hard but also have to work, and we will be a wonderful place to work, and we can’t wait to interview all these students and anyone else in town that wants a great job.”
