NEW: Wings and burgers ‘factory’ to move into industrial corner of Tysons

The fast-food chain WNB Factory is gearing up to enter a part of Tysons that has retained a more industrial look, a choice that seems appropriate given the restaurant’s name.

Specializing in wings and burgers, the business has applied for permits from Fairfax County to renovate a vacated suite at 8453A Tyco Road.

The restaurant will open this year, with construction taking about three months once the permits are approved, according to PK Restaurant Group Vice President and COO Robert Bales.

For now, signs for Tyco Cleaners — the dry-cleaning service that formerly occupied the 1,704-square-foot space — are still on the low-lying, commercial building across the street from Dominion Energy’s Tysons substation. Other tenants include a Persian carpet store and the restaurants Hunan Cafe and Shamshiry Express Kabob.

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, WNB Factory has rapidly expanded in Virginia since opening its first franchise in the state in Colonial Heights in 2020. Within the past year, locations have been added in Oakton, Huntington and, most recently, Centreville.

Virginia is now the company’s second-largest market, after Georgia.

“We’ve recently signed a new franchise partner who was interested as well in getting into the Tysons Corner market,” Bales said. “That’s the reason why we’ve expanded into that area, to try to condense it a little bit more. We’ve got Oakton, we’ve got Alexandria, so Tysons Corner was a good fit to sort of round out some of that market area.”

WNB Factory was started in 1997 by Atlanta natives Troy Pyo and Shin Kang, who wanted to provide hot, quality food with quick service, according to the company’s website. It now has 86 total locations, 75 of them in Georgia.

In addition to its signature burgers and wings, which come in 24 flavors, the restaurant serves chicken sandwiches, chicken tenders, cheesesteaks, fried rice, salads, fries and milkshakes. The menu includes plant and turkey-based burgers and tenders.

Bales says WNB is “a quality first operation” that prides itself on using fresh ingredients, including certified Angus beef and all-natural, non-genetically modified chicken.

“We’re a Wingstop and a BurgerFi pushed together and [it] really gives a customer a great choice when it comes to getting a good quality burger and some really good chicken wings,” he said.

While the menu is the same for all franchises, the company isn’t afraid to introduce new items, Bales told QSR in 2021. Its “Not Closed on Sunday” chicken sandwich, for example, was added in response to the Popeyes versus Chick-fil-A sandwich wars of 2019.

The company’s franchising efforts also focus on owners with local ties, he told FFXnow. All of WNB’s Virginia locations are franchisee-owned, though the Huntington and Centreville ones have the same operator.

“They live in the markets that they are operating in their stores, and most of our owners are in the stores pretty much on a daily basis at some point,” Bales said. “We just feel like we’re a nice community-style restaurant. We’re focused on quality, great customer service and a good selection of offerings…for customers.”

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