Wing Zone | 7
peasant’s pittance. Anyone questioning how
much money it takes to launch a successful
international franchise might be shocked by
Matt Friedman’s answer – “around five hun-
dred dollars.”
COVERT CULINARY OPS
In 1991, both Friedman and Scott were en-
rolled in the business administration pro-
gram at University of Florida in Gainesville.
Friedman was focused on marketing while
Scott was majoring in finance. Outside of
classes, the two were also fraternity broth-
ers in Pi Kappa Phi which is among the old-
est of college fraternities in America. While
pretzels and beer reportedly account for a
significant share of the dietary sensitivities
of college kids, Friedman was actually raised
in upstate New York, and as such, soon dis-
appointingly realized that Gainesville had
little in the way of wing eateries; a fact that
was made all the more evident on those days
when the famed Florida Gators took to the
field – after all, what good is gathering to
Gator Chomp without cheerfully chomping
down some wings too?
With their cooking proving particularly
popular in taste tests conducted with frater-
nity brother, Friedman and Scott astutely
sensed there was a good business opportuni-
ty if they acted to fill the void in wing-related
venues. They scraped-up some $500 dollars
which helped cover the cost of food and sup-
plies purchased from Sam’s Club. They had
a printed-menu on flyers which were dis-
tributed around campus and a phone line in
what became their base of operations, in this
case, the very kitchen of the Pi Kappa Phi
fraternity house. Now, as one might expect,
operating a business from a campus frater-
nity house could very well prompt particular
legal problems. Friedman explains that they
