DALLAS – Wingstop Restaurants Inc., a leading Dallas-based chicken-wing chain in the United States, is plotting an initial public offering (IPO), claim people familiar with the matter, according to The Wall Street Journal. Wingstop is owned by Roark Capital Group, which acquired it in 2010, and it franchises its restaurants..
In recent weeks, Wingstop has met with underwriting banks to discuss a potential IPO that could raise approximately $100 million, and could value the company at roughly $500 million, some sources said. The chain operates more than 660 locations across the US, Mexico, Russia, Singapore and in other countries. It plans to open 50 restaurants in the Philippines and 100 in Indonesia.

In the second quarter of 2014, same-store sales grew by 15.3 percent versus the same period one year earlier. After opening 74 restaurants in 2013, the company It also planned to open 138 new restaurants in the first half of 2014.
In recent years, restaurants have made up a big share of consumer IPOs, partly because investors have tried to buy into the market-share growth of fast-casual chains and other types of offerings taking market share from traditional sit-down and fast-food restaurants.