After 38 years in Mandarin, popular mom-and-pop chicken wing spot Wing-It to close

After 38 years of serving hot wings, burgers and sandwiches, a landmark Mandarin restaurant is set to close its doors permanently much to the dismay of longtime regulars and newcomers alike.

Wing-It Jax, a mom-and-pop mainstay tucked in a corner at Mandarin Central shopping center at 11018 Old St Augustine Road, is shutting its doors when its lease expires at the end of May.

Dave and Charleen Morency have owned and operated the restaurant for nearly 25 years.

"We've had a good run. But you know I'm pushing 70 and with the times as uncertain as they are and my lease here is up. … It's time to move on," Dave Morency told the Times-Union.

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Through Saturday, May 21, he said, the restaurant will continue serving its heaping platters of fresh-from-the-fryer chicken wings drenched in their original Garlic, Medium, Hot, Volcanic or Honey BBQ sauces.Multiple factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and its lingering aftermath, led to the couple's decision to close.

"The last few years have brought a new set of liabilities with the chicken prices and labor shortages, and we just aren’t able to commit to a long-term lease and continue working at the level we have been to make it work," he said.

The couple are restaurant business veterans. Morency has opened a total of 104 restaurants such as Perkins in the Jacksonville area throughout his career and has his own restaurant consulting business. They previously owned and operated Seafood Kitchen for several years.

In 1997, the Morencys bought Wing-It from a previous owner, who'd opened the business in 1984 at a nearby shopping center before relocating to its current location in 1992.

Charleen Morency ran Wing-It solo for about 16 years while her husband focused on his ongoing consulting business. At the same time, she taught group fitness classes.

The tough economy, Morency said, has meant that families who compose a large percentage of their customer base haven't been coming to the restaurant as often as they did in the past. That has made it harder for the business to remain profitable and sustain itself without raising its prices significantly, Morency said.

"Wings were $4 a pound for 20 months. We can't make a profit at that price and we can't pass that on because how much are people willing to pay for 12 wings?" he said.

Supply chain disruptions and staff shortages also contributed to the decision to close.

The final factor Morency said, was the inability to negotiate a year-to-year lease with the landlord of the Mandarin location.

The pending closure follows the shuttering of their 12961 N. Main St. Wing-It location in north Jacksonville last November.

"We knew then that all this was coming down the pike," said Morency, noting that didn't make the decision any easier.

"Wing-it is a part of our family. We raised our children here and watched the families of Mandarin raise theirs. We are forever thankful for this community," Morency said. "The customers, that part of leaving is going to be tough. Leaving the business part of it, the headaches the last few years honestly, it's been very stressful," he said.

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Hard to say goodbye

When Wing-it closes, it will leave a void that will be hard, if not nearly impossible, to fill, multiple customers told the Times-Union.

Cliff Davis has been going to Wing-It practically since the first day it opened in Mandarin. He was a kid then. Now grown-up, Davis regularly brings his family to the family-oriented restaurant that has a game room for youngsters.

News that Wing-It is closing surprised and saddened them.

"It's terrible because so many of the old Mandarin institutions like Famous Amos, Village Inn have closed and now Wing-It," Davis said.

Mom-and-pop restaurants are vanishing in Mandarin.

"Now, it's almost to the point where everything is fast food or big nationwide chains. The stuff we grew up with isn't here anymore, unfortunately," Davis said.

Davis said Wing-It's meaty wings were among the best in Jacksonville — earning it numerous awards over the years. The proprietary wing sauces — especially medium and hot garlic — were among the best, he also said.

Other longtime customers voiced their dismay about the upcoming closing on social media. Nearly 450 messages flooded Facebook in the first days since the Morencys announced the upcoming closure in an April 25 post.

They offered condolences, shared memories of good times at the restaurant and worried about the couple's future.

Morency said he and his wife are in excellent health and "can't imagine slowing down." He plans to focus on his consulting business while she likely will continue teaching group fitness classes.

"There are a lot of people who've had it a hell of a lot worse. You know, we would have liked to have stayed a little bit longer but it just wasn't to be," Morency said.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Wing-It chicken wing restaurant in Jacksonville Florida closing