Wingstop shares climbed up more than 60% in its public market debut.
The company operates and franchises more than 470 quick-service eateries that specialize in Buffalo-style chicken wings. In a franchise, the franchisor (Wingstop) gives the franchisee the right to use its name and sell its products and services.
It announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 5,800,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $19.00 per share on June 11.
The stock rose as high as $31 per share early Friday, much higher than its IPO price, valuing the company at around $880 million.
Wingstop common stock trades on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “WING”.
Last year the restaurant chain opened 80 new restaurants in the US and has a total of 503 commitments to open new franchises.
CEO Charlie Morrison said in an interview with CNBC’s “Power Lunch” on Friday:
“We believe we can continue this pace of growth long term, looking at 10 percent-plus unit growth, on our way to 2,500 restaurants in the U.S. alone,”
He said in the interview that the key to the chain’s success is keeping things efficient and simple.
“We’re all about a very core simple product and we can absorb that into our P&L (profit and loss) through simplified labor and low real estate costs,” Morrison said.