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Second Staten Island Store Opens to Rave Reviews

Vincent and James Martella knew they had a great product at a great location when they opened their first Planet Wings store at 2220 Forest Avenue on Staten Island, but nothing could have prepared them for the reception they would receive at the grand opening of their second store.

On Saturday, September 16th, the Martella’s opened the doors at 2211 Hylan Boulevard on Staten Island. For the first two weeks the Martella’s were at maximum capacity and could barely keep up with the volume of traffic in the store. They generated this type of response before any type of grand opening announcement or advertising. Throngs of people were already waiting in the parking lot before their scheduled opening at 11 am.

The store, the newest propotype for a Planet Wings, had their 20 foot mascot, “Max the Chicken” on the roof and the Planet Wings race car in the parking lot, both which helped draw an enormous amount of attention. There was even a priest who came to bless the store.

Before the doors closed at the end of the day, over 650 orders had been served. In an effort to keep up with demand, there were 8 cooks in the kitchen, 8 people on the counter and three cash registers humming. It appeared as though it might never slow down. “It was absolutely amazing, said owner Vinny Martella, the lines were out the door. Because all of our Planet Wings food is prepared fresh, people had to wait up to 40 minutes for their food but they weren’t leaving. That’s how much they love the food here. And business continues to be successful.”

The actual grand opening celebration came 2 weeks later on Saturday September 30th and was equally as successful as the opening day. The event was hosted by radio station Mix 102.7 and featured popular D.J. - Joe Causi. There were also clowns, balloon artists, jugglers and other activities to entertain the enthusiastic crowd.

One of the most popular events was the Suicide Wing eating contest where winners received tickets to a New York Yankees baseball game. DJ Joe Causi also tried the suicidal wings and said, “Those are the hottest things I’ve ever eaten in my life.” One customer who ate 10 suicide wings received four passes to Great Adventure Theme Park and a number of customers received Planet Wings hats and shirts.

The free-standing building, which is situated on a 6,000 square foot lot, took 6 ½ months to build and is located at one of the busiest intersections on Staten Island. It is located on the right side of the street so it can capture all the evening rush hour traffic coming off the Verrazano Bridge. Said Jimmy Martella, “Whenever anyone tries us for the first time and sees that we have 24 flavors of wings and plenty of other menu items as well, they always come back. We have the freshest quickserve anywhere and because we never use heat lamps, the food always tastes great.” The Martella’s plan to eventually open two more stores on Staten Island.

Planet Wings Staten Island – Focus on Success

 The Planet Wings Store on Staten Island opened with great fanfare on April 9th 2004. The Grand Opening celebration was attended by over 700 guests and featured balloons, clowns, face painting and lots of delicious food samples. There was even a guest appearance by “Max” the Planet Wings Mascot. Since that time store owner James (Jimmy) Martella has been busy at work promoting his store. He was even invited to a special lunch hosted by Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro where he was thanked for his investment in the local community. Jimmy says that his numbers are up and he is expecting it to be another good year for him and is considering opening a second Planet Wings location on Staten Island. Jimmy claims that his success is the result of a good product, hard work and doing a thorough job of marketing his store. Jimmy has created a special incentive card for several large employers in his area including St.Vincent’s Hospital, Lowe’s and Kohl’s. In fact there is a poster on every floor of St Vincent’s reminding people every day of their special Planet Wings’ discount. Jimmy also advertises in a large movie theatre in the area that attracts over a million viewers per summer, offering coupons and raffles to every movie patron. Mr. Martella is always looking to give back to the community by working with local schools and Emergency Medical teams to help them with their endeavors.