Latest news with #Wingstop
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Wingstop to open new restaurant in Bristol, UK by summer 2025
Chicken wing restaurant chain Wingstop is to open a new restaurant in the city of Bristol, in the west of England, by summer 2025. Insidermedia reports that the new Wingstop location will be situated at 44 Queens Road in Clifton, in a retail property formerly occupied by the stationer Paperchase. DJ Foley Property Consultants, through Savills and twentyretail, previously secured Greggs for 46 Queens Road. Now, Wingstop, trading as Lemon Pepper Holdings, is set to open at number 44. David Foley stated: "There was a lot of competition for these two units, with interest being shown by well-known brands. We are delighted to welcome the two popular brands Greggs and Wingstop to Queens Road and wish them every success." The restaurant will occupy the ground floor and basement of the grade II-listed building, with the ground floor designated for front-of-house operations and the basement for customer toilets and staff areas. This will be the third Wingstop establishment in Bristol, joining Cabot Circus and Eastgate Road. The move is part of the company's UK-wide growth strategy, which includes the opening of more than 20 new sites by the end of 2025. Wingstop's expansion in Bristol is a significant part of its UK growth, which has seen the brand expand to 64 locations since its 2018 launch. It now has 2,700 employees across the UK. Bristol City Council has granted planning permission for the new restaurant, including the installation of a shopfront and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. In the fiscal first quarter of 2025, Wingstop's total revenues reached $171.1m, up from $145.8m in the same quarter of the previous year. "Wingstop to open new restaurant in Bristol, UK by summer 2025" was originally created and published by Verdict Food Service, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Business Insider
a day ago
- Business
- Business Insider
The clever way that Domino's is making AI feel more real — and better at taking your pizza order
AI is finding its voice — and using it to take your weeknight pizza order. Restaurants, including Domino's and Wingstop, have used voice AI assistants for years to chat with customers on the phone and take their orders. Lately, though, they've been finessing those assistants by adding region-specific accents, adjusting their tone, and making other changes that make them more natural for customers to converse with. "If someone hears a really off-putting, unrelatable voice, they're going to hang up," said Lily Clifford, the CEO and founder of Rime Labs, which developed the text-to-voice model that Domino's and Wingstop use. Multiple restaurant chains are using voice AI to take customers' orders. But Rime's experience shows that it's not as easy as shoving an AI assistant with a robotic voice in a drive-thru or on one end of a phone line. Rime develops the text-to-voice technology that Domino's uses for phone ordering. Another company, ConverseNow, provides the AI assistant itself. When ConverseNow started working with Domino's about five years ago, it used a different voice that many customers didn't want to speak with, said Akshay Kayastha, director of engineering at ConverseNow. "There was one point where 50% of the people were just saying they just didn't want to talk to it," and asked to be transferred to a human, he said. Rime's technology has pushed that number closer to 100%, Clifford said. Domino's uses the text-to-voice feature in about 80% of its phone orders in North America, she added. "It should sound like someone who could work at Domino's and not someone who is a 20th-century American broadcast radio announcer," Clifford said. To develop its technology, Rime built a recording studio in San Francisco and recorded a variety of people having conversations with a friend or a family member. The goal, Clifford said, was to capture what day-to-day speech sounds like instead of using voice actors reading rehearsed lines. The resulting technology can use a variety of speech patterns. Domino's customers who order by phone in Atlanta, for instance, are likely to reach an AI assistant that speaks with a Southern accent. Rime says that it has also developed a voice that speaks using African-American Vernacular English. The voices that Rime uses don't belong to real people, though, Clifford said. Tone is another area where Rime's technology has improved voice AI, Kayastha said. One restaurant chain that ConverseNow works with pointed out a problem with an earlier version of the startup's voice AI: It sounded more chipper than most fast-food workers. Rime's technology helped match the tone to the situation, Kayastha said. "No one in real life speaks so cheerfully at a drive-thru," he said. "You've got to turn it down." The voice-to-text technology also correctly pronounces specific menu items, such as MeatZZa, a Domino's pizza with pepperoni, ham, Italian sausage, and beef. That's key for restaurants, Clifford said, given all of the unconventional spellings and limited-time offers that appear on their menus. Domino's has grown its online ordering options lately. Customers can place orders on Domino's website, through its app, or through third-party services like Uber and DoorDash. But phone orders remain a key part of the pizza chain's business, CEO Russell Weiner said during an earnings call in late 2023. "We have a large number of our customers coming in on online ordering, but we still need to make sure that the phones are there operationally," Weiner said. Domino's and Wingstop did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider. Workers across many industries are worried that their bosses will use AI to replace them. Clifford said that Rime's restaurant clients aren't using its AI voice technology to replace employees, though. Restaurant workers are often too busy preparing food, helping customers who show up in-store, and completing other tasks to take phone orders, she said. In that sense, voice AI that can field orders is taking a task off their plate. "If you're at the restaurant making pizzas and wings, you do not want to answer that phone," Clifford said. "You have a million other things to do."
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Wingstop (WING) Receives a Buy from Wells Fargo
In a report released today, Zachary Fadem from Wells Fargo maintained a Buy rating on Wingstop (WING – Research Report), with a price target of $375.00. The company's shares opened today at $337.75. Confident Investing Starts Here: According to TipRanks, Fadem is a 5-star analyst with an average return of 9.8% and a 60.72% success rate. Fadem covers the Consumer Cyclical sector, focusing on stocks such as Wingstop, AutoZone, and Best Buy Co. In addition to Wells Fargo, Wingstop also received a Buy from Truist Financial's Jake Bartlett in a report issued on May 27. However, on May 14, Truist Financial maintained a Hold rating on Wingstop (NASDAQ: WING). The company has a one-year high of $433.86 and a one-year low of $204.00. Currently, Wingstop has an average volume of 894.6K. Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 51 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders selling their shares of WING in relation to earlier this year. Earlier this month, Michael Skipworth, the President & CEO of WING sold 10,000.00 shares for a total of $3,373,343.00.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Work underway on THREE big-name chains at Basildon's Festival Leisure Park
AN AMERICAN fast food chain famous for its 'legendary' wings has announced it is opening at Festival Leisure Park as work begins on site. Wingstop, which sells chicken wings across the world, will open in July in the former Frankie and Benny's and workers are already carrying out a renovation. It comes as work progresses rapidly to build new Costa and Wendy's drive-thru restaurants on the car park. Both coffee giant Costa and American burger chain Wendy's are due to open in Autumn, while Wingstop will open 'at the end of July'. Upgrades - Construction well underway on the Wendy's and Costa drive-thrus on the same site. (Image: Oliver Partridge) The three big name chains will join Cineworld, Hollywood Bowl, Slim Chicken, Nandos and more at the popular leisure park. Known for their signature chicken wings, the Wingstop plan is already generating a buzz among residents. Jake Critoph, a resident who was at the leisure park yesterday, said: 'I'm buzzing for this to open, there's only a few in like Lakeside, Chelmsford and I think Southend, so a closer one is great news.' Couple Alfie and Leah Turner also praised the latest addition to Festival Leisure. Alfie said: 'Wingstop sounds banging, we can't wait.' Change - The iconic Wingstop iconography slowly replacing the former Frankie & Bennies. (Image: Oliver Partridge) Lilian Eldridge and her daughter Daisy are frequent visitors to the cinema and looking forward to more food options. Lillian said: 'We come here a fair bit for the cinema, so more food options will be cool - but I don't think we've ever tried Wingstop.' With Wingstop joining other popular chicken restaurants like Slim Chicken and Nando's on the site, both Wingstop themselves and the Festival Leisure Park are promising to deliver a unique experience to visitors. Malachy O'Keeffe, head of marketing at Wingstop, said: 'We're bringing bold, unforgettable flavours to Festival Leisure Park this July, from our crave-worthy wings to our range of milkshakes, our menu is built for those who don't settle for ordinary. 'Get ready, flavour is on its way.' Matthew Chambers, centre manager at Festival Leisure Park, added: 'We're thrilled to announce Wingstop's upcoming arrival to Festival Leisure Park, it's set to be a must-visit on your trip to us this summer.'
The Sun
5 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Major boost for KFC fans as chain reveals major investment to upgrade shops as it takes on rivals
FAST food chain KFC is splashing out £1.49billion to clip the wings of rivals Popeyes and Wingstop. Yesterday KFC announced it would spend £583million creating 7,000 jobs at diners and in the supply chain. Bosses said they aim to take on managers, as well as staff for kitchen-based jobs and newly created 'guest experience' roles. The chain, with more than 1,000 restaurants in the UK and Ireland and 30,000 staff, will also spend £466million on 500 new outlets, including flagship sites and drive-thrus. The North West is one area of focus. More than 200 existing restaurants will also be upgraded. And a further £404million will be used to 'strengthen' KFC's relationships with its suppliers and help its businesses to grow. Boss Rob Swain said: 'We've been serving customers in the UK for 60 years now. "But we've never seen such strong demand.' The UK fried chicken market is reckoned to be worth £3.1billion. Wingstop has around 57 franchised sites and plans a further 20. Popeyes has 65 across the UK and Ireland after opening 33 last year. Beloved chicken chain that's 'way better' than Popeyes announces it's now adding 20 new locations to lineup 1
