Popeyes U.S. comps -5.2% Q2’26Wingstop domestic SSS -7.5% Q2’26KFC U.S. units 3,523 YE’25Dave’s unit growth +52.3% FY’25Chick-fil-A AUV $9.16MCane’s systemwide $5.48B FY’25Franchisee QSR cap 6.85%Corporate QSR cap 5.85%Category growth +5.3% ’25Wings wholesale $0.98/lb YE’25
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Home / Brands / Wingstop
Brand profile

Wingstop

Growth vs. traffic splitwingsnationalfranchisedpublic

~98% franchised. Heavy multi-unit development agreements; company operates a small corporate base for testing.

CSW Score

Methodology →
43
Rank #13 of 15 rated brands
5 of 5 components available
Consumer DemandQ2 2026
23
Unit EconomicsFY2025
47
Expansion2025-12-27
52
Real Estate StrengthFY2025
56
System MomentumFY2025
46
2,5861
U.S. units
2025-12-27 · 2,529 franchised / 57 company-owned
3,0561
Global units
2025-12-27 · Includes 470 international franchised restaurants
$5.3B2
Systemwide sales
FY2025 · +12.1% YoY
$2.0M2
Average unit volume
FY2025 · Domestic AUV, down from $2.1M in FY2024
4932
Net unit change
FY2025 · Net new units, +19.2% unit growth
-7.5%3
Comparable sales (latest)
Q2 2026 · Domestic same-store sales
Headquarters
Addison, TX
Founded
1994
Parent / ownership
Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING)
Structure
Public
CSW Analysis

Wingstop is the sharpest divergence story in the category: development is still exceptional and comps have fallen off a cliff. The brand opened 493 net units in fiscal 2025 (+19.2%) and another 102 in a single quarter of 2026, while domestic same-store sales fell 7.5% in Q2 2026 and management cut full-year comp guidance to -4% to -6%. Management attributes the pressure to a 9% drop in digital visits in urban trade areas, where more than 55% of the system sits. The uncomfortable arithmetic for franchisees is that AUV has already slipped from $2.1M to $2.0M while the system adds units into the same trade areas. Unit-level cash flow, not unit count, is the number to watch in 2027 — and it is the number that will determine whether Wingstop's franchisee net-lease product holds its current pricing.

Real estate profile

Cap rate
Franchisee-guaranteed QSR pricing — Boulder Group's franchisee QSR benchmark was 6.85% in Q2 20264

Wingstop is an inline / endcap tenant far more often than a freestanding one: roughly 1,700 SF boxes, no drive-thru at most legacy locations, and leases signed by franchisee entities rather than the public company. That is why Wingstop trades wide of freestanding chicken tenants despite the parent being an investment-grade-adjacent public company — the lease credit is the operator, not WING.

Wingstop in the news

2026-07-29Brands

Wingstop domestic same-store sales drop 7.5%; full-year guidance cut to -4% to -6%3

What it means for the Chicken Wars: Wingstop opened 102 restaurants in the same quarter its comps fell 7.5%. That is the definition of a development machine outrunning its demand curve. With AUV already down from $2.1M to $2.0M, every new urban unit is now splitting a shrinking digital order base — and franchisee-credit Wingstop net-lease product should be underwritten on that math, not on WING's balance sheet.

2026-02-18Brands

Wingstop closes fiscal 2025 with 3,056 restaurants and $5.3B in system-wide sales2

What it means for the Chicken Wars: 493 net new units, 19.2% unit growth, 12.1% systemwide sales growth — and AUV down to $2.0M. The 2025 report contained the warning that the 2026 comps confirmed: system sales were growing on unit count, not on restaurant-level demand.

Sources

Every figure on this page is attributed. CSW does not publish estimates as facts — where a number is unavailable it is shown as “—”, and where a figure is derived arithmetically from two published figures it is marked as derived.

  1. [1] SEC EDGAR — Wingstop Inc. Form 10-K (FY2025, period ending 2025-12-27) (2026)
  2. [2] Wingstop Inc. — Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Results (2026-02-18)
  3. [3] Wingstop Inc. / PR Newswire — Wingstop Inc. Reports Fiscal Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results (2026-07-29)
  4. [4] The Boulder Group — Single Tenant Net Lease Report — Q2 2026 (2026-07)