New Butler Township WingStop location in holding pattern
BUTLER TWP — Those looking forward to a brand-new chicken wing restaurant in Butler County may have to wait a bit longer.
Although some signage for WingStop, a growing chicken franchise, has already gone up at the former Kings Family Restaurant on New Castle Road, officials from Butler Township haven’t heard from the prospective developers in months, even though the township is ready to hand them a building permit.
“Their permit’s been here for months, ready to be picked up, and they haven’t done anything,” said Jesse Hines, zoning officer for Butler Township. “They applied for a building permit. It was approved. It hasn’t been issued because they haven't paid the fee to pick it up.”
WingStop isn’t the only business planning to occupy the old Kings Family Restaurant building. According to township manager Tom Knights, plans call for multiple other businesses to share the space with WingStop, although as of Tuesday, Aug. 26, Knights is unaware of what those businesses are.
“That hasn’t been divulged,” Knights said. “The only reason we know it’s Wingstop is because their sign’s on the wall.”
Knights added that no opening date for the WingStop has been set yet.
“We were never given an opening date, so there’s been nothing even applied for yet,” Knights said.
The Kings Family Restaurant in Butler closed in April 2022, along with another location in New Castle, due to a landlord/tenant dispute. According to Butler County property records, the former Kings Family Restaurant property was acquired by “OM Butler Realty LLC” in October 2024 for $900,000.
WingStop did not return requests for comment from the Butler Eagle. A preliminary website for the location can be accessed through Google, but attempting to order something through the website leads to an error page. In addition, the listed phone number for the location is not operational.
