A new Wingstop is headed for San Antonio's East Side, where the fast-growing wing chain plans to convert a former Subway sandwich shop at 314 S. W.W. White Road into its latest Bexar County location. State filings show construction is set to begin in mid-October and wrap up by late January 2027, bringing another storefront to a commercial corridor city planners have long targeted for revitalization.
The project, known as the Wingstop Eastwood Village restaurant, is registered with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, according to the San Antonio Express-News. State project filing TABS2026028186, detailed by WhatNow San Antonio, describes a 2,545-square-foot interior renovation of the existing building, which is owned by MCR Enterprises, LTD, with design work handled by Wilkus Architects. The buildout will require demolition and construction of walls, floors and electrical systems inside the existing structure, and the roughly $300,000 project is being funded privately.
The building previously housed a Subway sandwich shop, Store #33708, along the same East Side commercial strip. Cody Thornton, listed as tenant contact for the project, serves as director of development for franchisee Charles Loflin, who operates most of San Antonio's Wingstop locations. Per Thornton, Loflin has multiple new Wingstop locations planned for San Antonio beyond this one.
A Franchisee With Deep Local Roots
Loflin's history with Wingstop in San Antonio stretches back nearly three decades. He became the brand's first franchisee to expand outside the Dallas-Fort Worth market in 1998, when he opened Wingstop's sixth store overall in the city, according to Franchise Times. He now runs his operations through Rise Up Restaurants, formerly known as San Antonio Wings, Inc., a company that ranked #53 on the Franchise Times Restaurant 200 list after growing to more than 160 Wingstop locations and 87 Pizza Patrón units spread across five states.
Loflin expanded his restaurant portfolio further in December 2016 by acquiring the Dallas-founded fast-casual chain Pizza Patrón and relocating its corporate headquarters to San Antonio, according to Nation's Restaurant News. His development group has also been active elsewhere in Bexar County this year — in April, the same team filed state permits for a $300,000, 1,690-square-foot Wingstop store at 4211 E. Loop 1604 N. in nearby Converse, a project Hoodline reported on in April.
Landing in a Corridor Targeted for Investment
The East Side site sits within City Council District 2, a historically underserved commercial area that city planning initiatives have long targeted for neighborhood commercial revitalization, according to the Express-News. Wingstop, headquartered in Addison, Texas and founded in Garland, Texas, is a fast food chain specializing in flavored fried chicken wings, and its arrival adds another food option to a stretch of S. W.W. White Road where public investment has also been flowing — Hoodline previously reported on a $46 million TIRZ funding package for an East Side senior center along the same corridor.
Wingstop's national growth pace helps explain why franchisees like Loflin keep expanding here. The chain reported more than 3,000 locations worldwide as of the seed story's reporting, and Wingstop Inc. investor relations figures put the total at 3,255 global locations as of the second quarter of 2026, after opening 102 net new stores in the three months ending June 27. Independent franchisees operate roughly 98% of those units, with corporate owning only 57, per Simply Wall St — a structure that puts nearly all the expansion capital and risk on operators like Loflin.
Digital Orders Driving Smaller Footprints
That franchisee-driven model is paired with a business built increasingly around delivery and mobile orders. Wingstop reported a domestic average unit volume of $1.9 million in the second quarter of 2026, with digital orders placed through its app and delivery platforms accounting for 71.6% of system-wide sales, according to the company's investor relations materials. That heavy reliance on digital ordering helps explain why newer Wingstop buildouts, including the compact 2,545-square-foot conversion planned for the former Subway space, favor smaller footprints designed more for pickup and delivery than dine-in traffic.
No opening date has been announced for the East Side location beyond the construction timeline, which state filings show beginning in mid-October and finishing by January 26, 2027. Staffing and equipment inspections typically follow the completion of buildout work, meaning a firm grand-opening date likely won't surface until construction wraps early next year.
