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Rick Ross and Wingstop

Rick Ross owns Wingstop restaurants as a franchisee, through his company Boss Wings. When he started, how his restaurants grew, and what it costs to open a Wingstop of your own.

Updated

Wingstop cost to open
$310K to $1.05M
Franchise fee
$25K
Royalty
6% of sales
US locations
2,586 2026 filing

Has opened Wingstop restaurants since 2011, starting in Memphis, through his company Boss Wings Enterprises. Revolt reported in September 2021 that he owned more than 25 Wingstop locations. (Revolt, September 2021)

Rick Ross’s Wingstop timeline

  1. August 2011. Signed a development agreement to open Wingstop restaurants in Memphis, starting with one on Winchester Road. (Wingstop (PR Newswire), August 2011)
  2. June 2014. His Union Avenue restaurant opened as the fifth Wingstop in the Memphis area and the newest in a 25-restaurant deal for his company, Boss Wings Enterprises. (Wingstop (Franchising.com), June 2014)
  3. January 2017. Boss Wings franchisees, Ross among them, owned Wingstop’s 1,000th restaurant, in Decatur, Georgia. (Wingstop (GlobeNewswire via MarketScreener), January 2017)
  4. September 2021. Revolt reported that he was the franchise owner of more than 25 Wingstop locations. (Revolt, September 2021)

Who owns Wingstop?

Wingstop franchises are sold by Wingstop Franchising LLC. Its ultimate parent is Wingstop Inc., a public company. Franchisees such as Boss Wings own and run their restaurants under agreements with that company and pay it a royalty of 6% of sales, plus 5.5% to the ad fund.

What a Wingstop franchise costs

From Wingstop’s 2026 filing: $310,400 to $1,048,500 to open a restaurant, including a $25,000 franchise fee per restaurant, plus a separate $25,000 development fee per restaurant under the required development agreement. The 2,116 franchised restaurants open the entire 2025 measured period averaged $2,007,626 in net sales, with a median of $1,890,866. Over 3 years franchisees opened 868 restaurants and 17 closed or left, a net +851 franchised. A trained manager can run it day to day.

The Wingstop franchise page breaks the cost to open into each line and lists every fee and the states with the most restaurants.

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