After Rare Sales Decline, Wingstop Targets AI Kitchens, Loyalty, and Marketing to Reignite Growth

For the first time in 22 years, Wingstop’s same-store sales turned negative.

Comps fell 3.3 percent in fiscal 2025 and 5.8 percent in Q4.

But the company views this dip as an anomaly, with expectations of flat to low-single-digit comp growth this year. Longer term, the goal is $3 million AUV (AUV was $2 million in 2025, down from $2.1 million in 2024).

Wingstop predicts a notable sales boost in 2026 thanks to its AI-enabled Smart Kitchen, an upcoming loyalty program, and a new marketing campaign.

All three areas are geared toward increasing frequency and positioning Wingstop as an “everyday occasion,” according to CEO Michael Skipworth. Right now, the average customer visits once per month.

“Just one more visit a quarter from our average guest is a meaningful step toward that $3 million AUV target,” Skipworth said during Wingstop’s Q4 earnings call.

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Wingstop’s Game-Changing Kitchen Tech is Driving Profit and Pace

The journey starts with Wingstop’s Smart Kitchen. Publicly unveiled last year, the back-of-house innovation features demand forecasts, digital touch-screen displays instead of paper chits, and order-ready screens in the front-of-house so guests can track their order. Wingstop finished 2025 with the new technology installed at all domestic units.

Fifty percent of restaurants are seeing 10-minute wait times, cutting the typical time in half. These same stores are experiencing higher customer frequency and an increase in transactions during the lunch daypart. Alongside the launch, Wingstop rolled out new speed and accuracy standards to elevate expectations and hold restaurants accountable.

A major stress test happened on Super Bowl Sunday, and the Smart Kitchen delivered. Wingstop acquired more than 100,000 new customers and achieved its highest sales day on record. Historically, wait times are 40 minutes during the Super Bowl, but this year, it was reduced to 20 minutes.

“I can remember the days when most restaurants would turn off their digital ordering platform because demand and volume was so high. And so we believe we saw something pretty special,” Skipworth said.

Employees love the Smart Kitchen, too. In 2025, corporate restaurants saw some of the lowest turnover rates they’ve ever seen.

“I think that is a strong indication of the team members’ experience with this new kitchen operating platform,” CFO Alex Kaleida said. “And quite simply put, it provides a high degree of focus, and generally speaking, it makes it easier for them to do the job we’re asking them to do to take care of our guests.”

However, there is still work to be done. Wingstop is targeting faster service during its busiest Friday and Saturday night dayparts, while also pushing to improve third-party delivery times.

Although restaurants have reduced delivery times by 15 percent year over year—driving higher menu-to-order conversion rates on aggregator platforms—the company believes delivery speeds should be even better, particularly given the gains it has made with in-restaurant service times.

Kaleida outlined the opportunity: On Friday and Saturday nights, about 30 percent of units are experiencing 10-minute wait times. Of those restaurants, only half are completing deliveries in under 30 minutes.

“One of the things that’s really powerful about Wingstop Smart Kitchen is it’s given us a level of visibility that we didn’t have before. And so we know exactly when orders are prepared and when they’re ready, and it’s allowing us to have a little bit more visibility, drive accountability, and make sure that we’re delivering on that guest’s expectation around speed as it relates to third-party delivery,” Skipworth said. “And so it’s something we’re going to continue to work at, and our partners are committed to improving that experience.”

Wingstop plans to gather more guests with its upcoming loyalty platform as well. The brand rolled out a pilot of Club Wingstop in Q4 to test reward and enrollment strategies. A national launch is scheduled for the end of Q2.

Leadership likes what it sees: Nearly 50 percent of active guests in the pilot market have already enrolled, including a majority of heavy users. Additionally, frequency increased 7 percent among rewards customers compared to visitation rates before joining, and over 30 percent of new guests are signing up.

Skipworth described Club Wingstop as “a loyalty program designed to strengthen the emotional connection to our brand through rewards, personalization, access to experiences, and a best-in-class digital ordering platform.”

The brand has a lot of digital equity to work with. Wingstop has more than 60 million users in its database, which grew by 20 percent in 2025, and digital channels mixed 73.2 percent in Q4.

“We believe we have the foundation in place to activate loyalty effectively,” the CEO added.

Wingstop is also speaking directly to guests with its new “Wingstop is Here” brand campaign. The marketing message aims to close the awareness gap between the fast casual and more mature national brands and positions the chain as “a center-of-the-plate occasion for everyone,” Skipworth said. So far, the campaign is resulting in record-high brand recall.

The chain is seeing that Gen Z is still one of its highest-growing demographics. But there’s also been meaningful growth from Gen X and households earning between $50,000 to $100,000 and $100,000 to $150,000.

“I think as I look at all of this together, I think we’re really encouraged by what we see in our ad campaign, and how it’s working for us,” Skipworth said.

The growth levers will be supported by enhanced leadership. Earlier this year, Wingstop brought back its COO position with Raj Kapoor, a 28-year veteran of 7-Eleven. In addition to Kapoor, Wingstop created a new “commercial team” and “analytics center of excellence” to harness the full power of the loyalty program.

“As we looked at this next phase of growth in front of the brand, I would really distill this all down to really, it’s just us playing offense and making sure we’re positioned for this next phase of growth,” Skipworth said. “We have the clarity around decision-making. We’re unlocking the opportunities and really investing in the talent that we’ve hired over the last few years and setting that bench up and continuing to grow that.”

Wingstop knows what’s possible by looking at its corporate fleet. Company-owned stores—which have used Smart Kitchens and abided by updated operational standards for over a year—saw comps increase 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter. Also, AUV is approaching $2.5 million and margins are in the mid-20 percent range.

“The performance in our corporate restaurants illustrate the opportunity ahead,” Kaleida said.

Franchisees have embraced the vision. Wingstop has opened a net of 255, 349, and 493 locations globally in fiscal 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively. It ended last year with a record 2,300 restaurant commitments.

In 2026, Wingstop projects 15 to 16 percent unit growth systemwide, above its long-term algorithm of 10 percent.

The chain finished last year with 3,056 units worldwide, including 2,529 in the U.S.

Wingstop felt momentum heading in 2026, but that was disrupted by harsh weather. Hundreds of stores were forced to close because of winter storms. Aside from that, the brand foresees sequential improvement in sales throughout the year.