By Chinonso Maduforo

A new restaurant has been added to the list of growing dining options in College Park.

Wings Over, a fast-food restaurant, opened its doors to customers Sept. 26. That day, the business — nestled into one of Terrapin Row’s retail spaces — gave out free wings to customers who had downloaded their app.

The restaurant outdoes its name with a variety of food options other than its fresh chicken wings — boneless strips, wraps and sandwiches, and a variety of over 20 sauce flavors.

The Massachusetts-based franchise currently has over 40 other locations in the U.S. This will be the first of it in Maryland.

Mitchell Blinn, the general manager, said that there had been a “buzz” about the new restaurant for some time, leading up to a successful show-out of hungry customers so far.

“It was just, everyone wanted to see what was behind the curtain,” Blinn said. “We definitely felt that people were excited [Monday] and that was something that we’re going to be able to use in the future when we open up other stores.”

As to why the franchise decided to come to College Park, Blinn said the campus and community offered an environment for the business to thrive.

“We’re not just looking for places where we can just go make money, we want to go look for a place where we can make an impact,” he said.

Despite other new food places competing for business — such as the upcoming Cava, as well as Dunkin Donuts and Seoul Spice — Blinn said he wasn’t worried.

“I’m always of the belief that more business the better,” he said. “There’s plenty of mouths to feed, so I definitely feel like we can all get our fair share.”

Mytia Crawley, the assistant manager, echoed these sentiments, saying, “It’s great to have healthy competition within each other. It’s also great that we can help each other.”

Customers had nothing but good things to say about the new food option on Tuesday. Siblings Madison Bee, a junior history major, and Zachary Bee, a sophomore finance major, said that the prices were similar to other places in the area.

“I feel like I always expect like $10 to $12 if I’m going to eat,” said Madison. When Zachary’s food finally came, his sentiment was a satisfied “it’s delicious.”

Will Watson, a senior studying agribusiness, heard about Wings Over from a friend who lives in Terrapin Row. He said he was very impressed with the menu options. “I was kind of overwhelmed with the amount of flavors you can have, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” said Watson.

An employee went over the menu with him, and after being shown the various options, he “couldn’t really resist and ended up paying more than I thought I would,” said Watson. However, he figured it would be worth it.

Watson thinks the new wings spot can compete with other businesses, especially because he hasn’t “found many wing places” that he’s been attracted to.

“I’ll be coming here until something otherwise makes me stop. I think it’s good for this south side of campus. I think it’s going to draw a lot of attention,” Watson said.

Denise Burroughs, a freshman communication major, said she was glad about the rapidly growing food options in the area. “I know just being kind of stuck at the diner would be really boring, so I really like all of the food options that we have here,” said Burroughs.