Dunkin' Franchisee Zak Omar is Taking Atomic Wings to New Heights as Brand CEO

Zak Omar knows a good business when he sees one. The multi-unit Dunkin’ franchisee has grown an enviable operation with the iconic donut franchise for years, and before that, he watched his father build a thriving business from scratch. So in 2016, when Omar purchased the New York City-based Buffalo wing chain Atomic Wings, the industry took notice. 

Omar’s father, an Afghani refugee, arrived in New York city in the 1980s “with poor English and barely a penny to his name,” Omar said. What Omar’s father did have was a keen eye for opportunity and the grit to take full advantage of it. 

“At that time, Wall Street wasn’t cluttered with Burger Kings and McDonald’s — most people were just eating in the cafeterias of their office buildings,” Omar explained. His father introduced a new option: a mobile fried chicken truck that he would park right outside of 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza. Decades before food trucks a hallmarks of the urban lunch scene, Omar’s father’s truck was an immediate hit, drawing “lines that wrapped around the block.” 

Omar and his brother Ray worked at their father’s truck as kids, and the experience “really rubbed off on us,” Omar said. “We loved talking to customers, meeting different types of people, and putting in the work to make everyone happy.”

After a few years, Omar’s father had saved up enough money to invest in a new opportunity: a warehouse full of restaurant supplies for vendors to rent. Like his chicken truck, that business quickly took off, and the Omar family business continued to grow. 

Then, Omar’s father fell ill. Rather than stepping back from the business they’d built, Omar’s family took the news as impetus to achieve the goals they hadn’t yet. One of those goals was to open a Dunkin’ Donuts — ”something my father had dreamed of,” Omar said. So Omar, his brother and their father pooled some savings and invested in their first franchise location together.

Also in 2013, Omar’s father passed away, and before Omar could even grieve, he himself was diagnosed with leukemia. As he did when his father became ill, Omar used his own diagnosis as inspiration to grow his business. That’s when he decided to invest in Atomic Wings.

“My father always believed in the power of work, and he worked up until his final days — he never quit.” Omar said. “He was afraid of heights, but the very first job he took was cleaning windows on skyscrapers. That’s how dedicated he was to providing for his family. He instilled that work ethic in our whole family.”

Omar says he saw the same opportunity in Atomic Wings that his father saw in his Wall Street food truck so many years earlier. “It was a brand that was already hugely popular in New York, but I thought we could take it so much further,” he said. 

Omar initially considered opening his own Atomic Wings franchise location, but after meeting Omar and learning his story, Adam Lippin, the franchise’s founder, offered to sell him the entire business, and Omar agreed.

Lippin opened the first Atomic Wings location 30 years ago in the back of a bar in New York City. An immediate hit, the brand quickly expanded, opening standalone shops throughout the city. By the time Omar joined, the brand had become synonymous with Buffalo wings in New York City.

These days, it’s hard to imagine New York City suffering from a lack of quality options for any cuisine, particularly one as beloved as chicken wings, but 30 years ago, you’d be hard pressed to find a version of that game-day and barroom staple in NYC that lived up to the wings served in Buffalo. For Adam Lippin, who returned to New York City after graduating from college in Buffalo in the ‘90s, that was a problem. Lippin had developed a taste for wings during his time in Buffalo, and the options available in New York City just weren’t cutting it. So Lippin took matters into his own hands and built Atomic Wings based on the style and recipes he loved in Buffalo.

As Atomic Wings’ popularity grew throughout NYC, so did the role of Buffalo wings at bars, parties and events throughout New York and the rest of the country, and Lippin soon faced a host of competitors looking to capitalize on that popularity. But even as authentic Buffalo wings became easier to come by, Atomic Wings always maintained a lucrative edge. 

“The flavors can’t be beat, and we’ve got something for everybody,” said Omar. Most wing shops will offer some range of heat levels and maybe two or three flavors. Atomic Wings offers 14. Omar added, “Each flavor was developed after months of research and development. Whatever kind of wing you like, we’ve got that flavor, and it’s awesome.”

That’s no empty boast. Atomic Wings has been met with fervent demand at every one of its 11 locations currently open for business, and was listed as one of the fastest growing small restaurants by Future 50. Even throughout the coronavirus crisis, when restaurants across the country were forced to close, Atomic Wings continued to grow, signing contracts for two additional locations to be opened this year. In total, there are an additional 16 locations set to be open in the future.

Omar attributes that success not only to its unmatched consumer offering but also to a finely tuned operational model that promotes success for owners.

“Everything about the business has been streamlined to make owners more profitable,” he said. “From the buildout to the service model, we’ve developed a system that allows owners to recoup their investments and grow faster.”

Omar says he helped craft the Atomic Wings franchise model based on what works — and what doesn’t — in Dunkin’s model.

“At Dunkin’, we saw periods where the buildout cost was lower and people were building much more and investing in new stores. When the costs went up, fewer stores were built. So we have very deliberately kept the buildout costs low enough that franchisees can recoup their investment in about three years, which makes franchisees much more profitable much faster,” Omar explained.

Crucially, Omar says Atomic Wings’ corporate team is much more focused on franchisee support than most other franchisors.

“With other brands, it’s typically, ‘here’s your store, we’ll check in every few weeks to make sure you’re following our standards,’ and that’s it. You can’t reach out to the CEO and ask for help — you’re largely on your own,” he said. 

Atomic Wings franchisees benefit from a close relationship with the brand’s corporate team. “Our success depends on the success of our franchisees, so we’re adamant about providing them with everything they need,” Omar said.

That level of support has helped Atomic Wings franchisees grow faster than franchisees at other fast-casual brands, and word is spreading. The brand signed a 10-unit contract with a new franchisee in Arizona, and Omar says he’s received inquiries from entrepreneurs as far afield as Abu Dhabi and Southeast Asia. “As soon as people catch a glimpse of what we’re doing, they want to get involved,” he said.

In 2018, after years of progress, Omar’s cancer relapsed and he had to undergo a bone marrow transplant. As always, that setback did not slow him down. “Even while in the hospital, I was answering emails, talking to franchisees — doing everything I could to provide everyone the support they needed.”

Today, as the world recovers from a pandemic that upended businesses across industries, Atomic Wings is perhaps even more attractive to prospective business owners. Buffalo wings are popular as both dine-in and take-out fare, of course, but more importantly, like Omar, the brand has proven its ability to weather virtually any crisis.

“We’ve been around for over 30 years. We’ve seen it all, from environmental disasters to economic plunges, and we’ve thrived in every scenario,” Omar said. “We’re nimble, we’re built to grow and most importantly, people love the wings. That’s not going to change.”

Startup costs to open one Atomic Wings range from $170,400 to $377,355. The initial investment to begin operation of a multi-unit development business for a required minimum of three Atomic Wings franchises is between $197,400 and $404,855. For more information about Atomic Wings, please visit https://www.atomicwings.com/franchising.