What started in a London car park for 300 people in 2014 has grown into the world’s largest chicken wing festival. Wing Fest now hosts six major events annually across the UK, but is about to take its first major step beyond the festival circuit—launching its first-ever pop-up chicken wing restaurant.
Wing Fest attracts tens of thousands of wing fans each year who travel from far and wide to taste the nation’s best wings, vote for their favourites, and help crown the UK’s top wing champions. But a decade of sold-out festivals and fiery wing challenges was never going to be enough.
This is why the festival has opened a permanent food concept in the heart of Birmingham, with a 12-month pop-up at Selfridges. Aiming to be more than just another chicken spot in the centre, a festival-inspired menu features award-winning flavours and collaborations from some of the UK’s best ‘wing slingers.’
“Wing Fest has seen unbeatable growth,” said Richard Thacker, founder of Wing Fest. “From 300 wing fans in a pub car park, to 50,000 across 6 events and 1 million chicken wings. With in-depth knowledge of the perfect chicken wing, we’re excited and proud of the flavours and recipes we have created, and the exceptional quality.”
Highlights include fan-favourite sauces Bombay Bad Boy and Honey Buffalo from the award-winning Hot Chick, alongside a selection of Wing Fest-approved flavours such as Smokey Bourbon BBQ, Maple Truffle Parmesan, Korean BBQ with chilli crunch, and Honey, Ginger & Soy.
The menu also features chicken tenders, fried chicken burgers, and some pretty incredible sounding sides, like loaded fries, jalapeño bites and Korean miso corn ribs. You can experience all these Wing Fest flavours and more, year-round on Level 1 of Selfridges Birmingham.