DALLAS, June 26, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wingstop Restaurants Inc. (NASDAQ:WING), the award-winning wing concept with more than 1,100 locations globally, today announced that it has opened its first franchise restaurant in Panama City, Panama, now the ninth international operating country for Wingstop.
The opening is part of an international expansion agreement with Operadora de Restaurantes Orna, a newly formed restaurant group comprised of Grupo Lujor, a Master Wingstop Franchisee from Mexico, and International Brands Panama as the local operating partners. Operadora de Restaurantes Orna and Wingstop have plans to open an additional two locations in 2018, with a long-term goal of ten total locations over the next five years across Panama.
“Expanding Wingstop into our ninth country outside the U.S. continues our growth trajectory towards the brand becoming a top 10 global restaurant brand,” said Larry Kruguer, Chief Operating Officer at Wingstop. “Panama is a major country in Central America with an affinity for American brands, and we’re excited to enter our third country in Latin America with a team that knows our brand so well.”
“We're honored to be a part of the Wingstop family and eager to bring this exciting and well-respected brand to Panama,” said Stephen Naar, Partner at Operadora de Restaurantes Orna. “We are looking forward to growing our partnership and establishing the brand over the next five years to bring the best of what Wingstop has to offer to Panamanians.”
For more information, please visit www.wingstop.com or follow along on Instagram @WingstopPTY.
About Wingstop
Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) operates and franchises more than 1,100 locations across the United States, Mexico, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Colombia and Panama. The Wing Experts’ menu features classic and boneless wings with 11 bold, distinctive flavors including Original Hot, Cajun, Atomic, Mild, Teriyaki, Lemon Pepper, Hawaiian, Garlic Parmesan, Hickory Smoked BBQ, Louisiana Rub, and Mango Habanero. Wingstop’s wings are always cooked to order, hand-sauced and tossed and served with a variety of house-made sides including fresh-cut, seasoned fries. Having grown its domestic same store sales for 14 consecutive years, the Company has been ranked #3 on the “Top 100 Fastest Growing Restaurant Chains” by Nation’s Restaurant News (2016), #7 on the “Top 40 Fast Casual Chains” by Restaurant Business (2016), and was named “Best Franchise Deal in North America” by QSR magazine (2014). Wingstop was ranked #88 on Fortune’s 100 Best Medium Workplaces list in October 2016. Follow us on facebook.com/Wingstop and Twitter @Wingstop.
Forward-looking Information
Certain statements contained in this news release, as well as other information provided from time to time by Wingstop Inc. or its employees, may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements may include words such as “guidance,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “project,” “plan,” “intend,” “believe,” “confident,” “may,” “should,” “can have,” “likely,” “future” and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of the timing or nature of future operating or financial performance or other events. Examples of forward-looking statements that could appear in this news release include our fiscal year 2018 outlook for new restaurant openings, domestic same store sales growth, SG&A expenses, net income, EBTIDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted earnings per diluted share and our diluted share count, as well as our anticipated potential domestic restaurant expansion opportunity, positioning to make progress towards domestic restaurant potential and progress toward our goal of becoming a top 10 global restaurant brand.
Any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance or results, and involve risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond the Company’s control) and assumptions. Although we believe any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, you should be aware that many factors could affect our actual financial results and cause them to differ materially from those anticipated in any forward-looking statements. Please refer to the risk factors discussed in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 30, 2017, which can be found at the SEC’s website www.sec.gov. The discussion of these risks is specifically incorporated by reference into this news release.
Any forward-looking statement made by Wingstop Inc. in this press release speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.