---
title: "How Wing Snob Approaches Franchise Differentiation"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/68691930-8f2b-498b-a2ac-a8dc55f3e5e1
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/building-modern-franchise-brand-2026-2733158
category: "Chicken"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Chicken"
published: 2026-10-08T21:16:44.000Z
modified: 2026-10-31T14:56:47.057Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/1790606791_feature.png
---

# How Wing Snob Approaches Franchise Differentiation

**TL;DR:** Wing Snob President Brian Shunia emphasizes that differentiation in a crowded category starts with the customer experience, including food, consistency, hospitality, and convenience. He believes that true differentiation is not just about marketing campaigns, but about creating a consistent experience across locations.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2026-10-08. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/building-modern-franchise-brand-2026-2733158).*

## Story

Wing Snob President Brian Shunia does not think differentiation starts with a marketing campaign. For him, it starts with the experience a customer has with the brand, from the food they order to the service they receive and whether that experience is consistent the next time they visit.

"In a crowded category, the product gets you noticed, but the total experience is what makes you memorable," Shunia said. For Wing Snob, that experience includes the food itself, consistency from one visit to the next, hospitality and convenience.

That only works if the brand can make the experience consistent across locations. Franchisees need to know what the brand is supposed to feel like, but they also need the systems to deliver it. "True differentiation is not just a creative logo, menu item or marketing campaign," Shunia said.

Shunia said brands can learn what makes them different by listening to customers, franchisees and frontline employees. He looks at what customers compliment, what they recommend to friends and what brings them back. Franchisees and frontline employees can provide the same kind of feedback.

For Wing Snob, that feedback pointed to a mix of bold flavors, a made-to-order product, hospitality and a brand personality that avoids feeling corporate. Shunia said Wing Snob tries to keep that personality consistent across the menu, restaurant design, social media and packaging.

The message also has to be simple. If it takes several paragraphs to explain what makes a brand different, customers probably won't remember it. Shunia said franchisees should be able to explain that difference in their own words, too.

Shunia said one common mistake is assuming differentiation has to be complicated. Adding products, promotions or messages simply to appeal to more people can make a concept harder to understand and harder to operate.

Chasing competitors creates a similar problem. Reacting to every move another brand makes can pull a concept away from its own customers. For Wing Snob, he said, decisions are based on its customers and where the brand wants to go.

Marketing can bring a customer in once, Shunia said, but product quality, hospitality and consistency decide whether that customer returns. For Wing Snob, customers have to notice differentiation for themselves. The food, service and overall experience have to back up whatever the brand says about itself.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- QSR (sector)
- marketing strategy (topic)
- customer experience (topic)
- brand consistency (topic)
- Wing Snob (company)
- Brian Shunia (person)
- franchise differentiation (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/building-modern-franchise-brand-2026-2733158). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/68691930-8f2b-498b-a2ac-a8dc55f3e5e1).