Wings Over made its first-ever appearance at the National Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo, NY, this August, and came home with a trophy.
After two days of wings and competition, Wings Over took home 2nd place in Best Creative Spicy Wing Sauce for Mango Meltdown, our mango habanero sauce.
From Customer Feedback to Mango Meltdown
When Wings Over’s current owners, Kevin and Mike, took over the brand in 2023, they knew they had work to do, including improving some of the sauces.
One of the biggest opportunities was our mango habanero, then called Tropical Heat. While some customers enjoyed it, others felt it wasn’t spicy enough and that it blended in with the other sweet-and-spicy flavors on the menu.
For nearly two years, the team tested different habaneros and spice combinations, searching for the right balance of sweet, fruity flavor and serious heat.
The result was Mango Meltdown, which made its in-store debut in February 2026.
Mango Meltdown starts with sweet mango flavor before the habanero heat kicks in and builds with every bite. It quickly became a fan favorite, selling at roughly twice the popularity of its predecessor. The owners love it enough to bring bottles with them on vacation.
Bringing Wings Over to Buffalo
For our first National Buffalo Wing Festival, we brought some Wings Over favorites and even an unreleased flavor: Cajun Honey Butter, Cajun Voodoo Rub, Cruisin’ Altitude, Mango Meltdown, and Honey BBQ.
Over the two-day festival, Wings Over distributed 10,000 tickets helping introduce the brand to thousands of wing fans.
The festival itself had plenty going on, including the wing eating competition won by world-record-holding competitive eater Joey Chestnut. Wings Over’s Cruisin’ Altitude Buffalo sauce was also used in one of the wing eating contests.
And for anyone wondering what a wing festival in Buffalo looks like, yes, there were people bobbing for wings in blue cheese.
For Wings Over, though, the highlight was seeing the response to Mango Meltdown. Wing fans kept coming back to the booth for more, giving the team a chance to see firsthand how the flavor was being received outside of our restaurants.
After nearly two years of developing the sauce, seeing that kind of reaction in Buffalo made the trip especially rewarding. The recognition from the festival was a great way to cap off Mango Meltdown’s first year and reinforced what Kevin and Mike had hoped to accomplish when they went back to the drawing board with it’s predecessor.
The team came home with a 2nd place trophy and plenty of motivation to make an even bigger showing next year.
Looking Ahead to 2027
Taking home 2nd place at the National Buffalo Wing Festival was a pretty good result for Wings Over’s rookie year. But now that we’ve been there, we’ve got a better idea of what it takes to compete on that stage.
Mango Meltdown has already come a long way since its development began nearly two years ago. Next year, we’re heading back to Buffalo with one goal in mind:
1st place.
