Why Charlie Morrison left Wingstop for an upstart

Why would you leave a 1,800-unit chicken wing chain for a salad upstart?

This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive seeks to answer that question. It features Charlie Morrison, now the CEO of the nearly-60-unit Salad and Go.

Morrison is the now-former CEO of Wingstop, which he led for nearly a decade, growing it from 500 locations to about 1,800 units and helping to turn it into a powerhouse, one that would spawn dozens of competitors during the pandemic.

We asked him about that decision to leave that position to head up a chain of drive-thru salad restaurants that was relatively little known for the most part outside of its core market. He explains the move. And then we spend a lot of time talking about Salad and Go.

Morrison talks about the concept and why it’s able to sell its salads for just $6. He explains the growth strategy and why now is the time for a drive-thru-only salad chain.