Success Story

A Calling to Serve Their Community and Always Putting Customers 1st Helped Mack's Wings Beat the Challenges of 2020

Michael and Kimberly Manning are not people who shy away from challenges -- which meant they were prepared for whatever 2020 had to offer.

Michael is a local attorney who played basketball at Clemson and Coker Universities, and for two years in Lisbon, Spain. Kimberly, a Tulsa native, is an insurance professional who served in the Marine Corps. as a security guard in Madagascar off the east coast of Africa, and in the West African country of Togo. Mack's Wings is just another expression of their calling to serve others.

"Though I have a varied work history, including being a U.S. Marine and radio DJ, I never envisioned myself running a quick-service restaurant," says Kimberly. "The best thing about it is meeting the people who live and/or work in this community and serving them."

Manning's previous company was consolidating its offices, she recently told Tulsa World magazine, "I was going to have to move or find a new job. My husband saw that this space was coming open and thought we should open a restaurant."

Their location had been home to several previous dining concepts, including Uncle Herm's, Sweet Lisa's Café, and Reba Dale's BBQ. Located just north of downtown Tulsa on Pine Street, Mack's Wings -- named after the owners' daughter, Mackenzie -- offers what it terms a "new twist to how wings are done in the city." The menu includes traditional buffalo wing flavors as well as a couple of house favorites, including the popular Oklahoma Dry Rub and their Mack Sauce, which features a slight hint of tangy sweetness. Also available is the Lemon Twist, a wing tossed in buffalo sauce and sprinkled with lemon-pepper seasoning. The restaurant also features limited-time flavors like Mambo Sauce, said to be a Washington, DC, staple.

"We stress that putting the customer first is key," Manning explains. "Not only do we strive to accurately and speedily fulfill orders, but we are also adamant about serving customers in the friendliest way possible -- which goes a long way in this business."

Adjustments

The restaurant was limited to half occupancy during Covid. Even so, says Manning, "Though we had to make adjustments, we were not too badly hurt by the pandemic. We began offering curbside to complement call-in service, and were able to stay afloat in spite of challenges presented by Covid-19."

In addition to those adjustments, she continues, the couple continued to reach out through social media to increase their exposure "and reach and implement various promotions -- for example our loyalty card, where return visits can result in a free meal."

The couple is proud of the new POS system they introduced during 2020, which allows customers to read orders in real-time for accuracy. It also

eliminated the need to manually enter tips at the end of the day, since the customer enters the tip amount into the system at the time of sale.

According to Manning, RestaurantOwner.com "has been a Godsend. Although I haven't been able to complete as much online training as I would have liked to so far, I have still learned quite a bit. I also greatly appreciate the downloadable resources we have been able to use to help give our team detailed job descriptions and checklists to help them perform their duties." There is, she adds, "so much more we need to explore on the site and I am grateful that it was there for me since I had zero experience in running a restaurant."

Ahead, Manning says, "We definitely need to look into online ordering, as our call volume during peak hours can present a challenge at times."

The lessons learned during the trying year just ended have proven critical. "No matter what curveballs get thrown at you," Manning concludes, "you can prevail as long as you are willing to adapt, do research, and keep RestaurantOwner.com in your pocket."