Wingstop and the Coca-Cola Freestyle Machine

Wingstop's Coca-Cola Freestyle MachineAfter opening 500 locations across 34 different states and parts of Mexico since 1994 Wingstop recently opened a location in Milwaukee and invited me in for a visit. Since I’ve never been one to pass up a free meal (especially one involving a pile of free chicken wings) I happily obliged.

One of the best things about Wingstop is that your chicken wings are always cooked to order so you won’t find any heat lamps or microwaves in their kitchen. Each location also cuts their own fries every single day from real Idaho potatoes.

You’ll find nine different flavors of wings at Wingstop (available in both regular and boneless varieties) and on my visit I sampled four of them – Garlic Parmesan, Lemon Pepper, Hawaiian and their Original Hot wings.

I only tried the boneless wings so I can’t comment on the regular wings, but the ones I tried were definitely decent-sized and flavorful. Out of the four flavors I sampled the Garlic Parmesan and Hawaiian were probably my two favorites.

Since there are so many bars serving wings around Milwaukee, with all of those wings varying in both size and price, comparing them on anything but taste to Wingstop is a little tough, but taste-wise the wings from Wingstop definitely held their own. Are they the best wings that I’ve had in Milwaukee? Absolutely not, but they’re also far from the worst.

If you’re looking for a price and size comparison then comparing Wingstop to popular wing chain Buffalo Wild Wings is probably the safest bet. Size-wise the wings from both chains are pretty similar, but the wings at Wingstop are cheaper. As far as taste goes if I had to choose between the two I’d pick Wingstop in a second.

Another really cool thing about Wingstop is that they’re the first place in Milwaukee with a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine, which is basically a giant fountain soda vending machine that offers 135 different Coca-Cola brand drink choices. Are you a fan of Diet Coke? They’re got seven different varieties, as well as eight additional Coca-Cola Zero choices. Is Powerade your preferred drink? Between regular Powerade and Powerade Zero they’ve got 16 different flavors for you to choose from.

Feeling creative? Try using the Coca-Freestyle machine to come up with your own drink concoctions! According to my calculations, based on the 135 beverages offered you can actually make a total of 1,474,892 different drinks! Actually I just made that number up. I’m terrible at math. What I do know though is that my half Powerade Lime half Mello Yellow Cherry drink tasted pretty good. My Pibb Xtra Cherry Vanilla / Orange Coke / Minute Maid Strawberry Lemonade / Hi-C Grape mix on the other hand? Not so much… If only there were a “vodka” button on this machine I could really put my mixology skills to the test!

7 Comments on Wingstop and the Coca-Cola Freestyle Machine

  1. Christina
    January 26, 2012 at 10:31 am (12 years ago)

    Those look tasty…the only wing places we have in my area (upstate-ish NY) are Buffalo Wild Wings and Planet Wings… Would love to see one of those Coke Freestyle machines in action too. What was the flavor of the Hawaiian ones like? Sweet BBQ? Whenever I think Hawaiian I think “ham and pineapple” (like the pizza).

    Reply
    • Nick
      January 26, 2012 at 11:46 am (12 years ago)

      The Hawaiian wings sort of reminded me of sweet and sour chicken, although not quite as sweet. It’s funny because up until a couple weeks ago I’d never even tried Hawaiian flavored wings and since then I’ve tried them at two different places.

      Reply
  2. Wingstop Milwaukee
    January 26, 2012 at 11:01 am (12 years ago)

    Thanks for visiting and for the great post! We’re glad you enjoyed your visit 🙂

    Reply
  3. Bill
    January 30, 2012 at 11:39 am (12 years ago)

    I love the new Coke Freestyle machine. It was almost overwhelming to have so many different flavors to choose from. However, the machines definitely make consumers feel like they are getting a “premium” soda.
    Thanks for the great blog post. Keep sharing!

    Reply
  4. Ben
    January 30, 2012 at 12:45 pm (12 years ago)

    About two years ago, a wings place opened up in my downtown, it serves 50 different flavors of wings, and has since become my go to restaurant. The first time I went I also got the garlic parm wings, but found them too salty, however they have a szechuan flavor and a oranage ginger that I am constantly drawn to. It is my firm belief that all places should serve wings, it would make the world a better place.

    Reply
  5. jett
    February 1, 2012 at 9:58 pm (12 years ago)

    This blog is getting more and more like a sponsored advertisement.

    Reply
    • Nick
      February 1, 2012 at 10:49 pm (12 years ago)

      I just woke up from a nap on my extremely affordable Tempur-Pedic® bed and saw this comment. Did you know that the Tempur-Pedic® technology was originally developed by NASA? Anyway, I’m sorry that you feel that way.

      I actually planned on writing about the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine and its 135+ flavor choices prior to Wingstop inviting me in for a visit (where I sampled four of their nine delicious wing flavors.)

      Wait, what was I talking about again? Perhaps I should take some Ginkgo biloba to help with this sudden memory loss…

      Reply

Leave a reply to Bill Cancel reply