Ever since Zak and Ray Omar were kids, they’ve enjoyed fried chicken.
Even more than nuggets, the brothers enjoyed creating recipes for sauces to wet crunchy pieces.
What began as a culinary experiment in the back of his father’s food truck has since grown into a developing food portfolio that includes various Dunkin Donuts sites and his own brand, Wings Atomic, of which Zak is the CEO.
When Mo Omar emigrated to the United States from Afghanistan in 1980, he temporarily began starting a business around fried chicken, which served in an outdoor food truck in the construction of Chase Manhattan in New York’s monetary district.
“He took us to paint when I was about 12, and [Ray] was 15, and we can see what he was doing every day and see the difficult paintings he did,” Zak said. “It was attractive to see the lines wrapped around the block and how we would interact with everyone from the vice president of the bank to the cafeteria painter. “
Once the race of the day is over, Mo will make the long adventure back to Queens as his children craft new recipes to spice up his late lunch with the remaining bird nuggets.
They did not realize then, however, several business seeds were planted during this period.
During this time, Ray enlisted in the special forces where he toured Iraq and Afghanistan, reaching the rank of captain and consultant of the civilian army.
The Omars stayed close and in 2010 presented the opportunity to become a franchisee with Dunkin’Donuts.
In fact, Mo had died when he opened his first location in the 1990s, a resolution that lamented as Dunkin’s popularity grew.
The three men collected their savings and signed a five-site agreement, dividing the assets into their contribution.
The Omars already knew a lot about the food venue industry, but Zak said having a national logo franchise had several key advantages.
“They are the ones who let prospective consumers know the call and provide you with the recipe manual that explains why it is done this way,” he said. “They devoted time, money and resources to doing these studies and testing. “
But through the time they reached their rhythm, tragedy struck.
For Zak, leukemia, and for Mo, a brain cancer that would eventually cost him his life.
He then had a verbal exchange with Adam Lippin, the founder of a place to eat bird wings called Atomic Wings.
Zak liked the product and logo and asked Lippin to open a franchise. Lippin had another idea: since he was in a position to retire, why not sell the total operation to Zak and Ray?
“I took over in 2016, and what I did without delay was take what I learned from Dunkin,” Zak said. “When I got hit on board, everything was a little scattered and we worked hard at the back of the first two years of our growth.
At the time, there were only two Atomic Wings sites, but Omars’ efforts made him 11 today, 16 more in preparation and a vision for a hundred retail outlets worldwide over the next five years.
As a franchisor, Atomic Wings goes far beyond industry criteria to reduce your partners’ prices with low rates and flexible design requirements, but there’s one thing franchisees pay the most: fryers.
“It’s our lifeline, it’s our livelihood, and it just goes to them,” Zak said. “You can’t buy a reasonable fryer and expect to get that quality from it. You must make sure your food tastes good. “