Little Bones Wings takes flight

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This article was published 16/05/2016 (3610 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Alex Goertzen is laying claim to the title of Transcona’s king of wings.

Goertzen is the founder and co-owner of Little Bones Wings, a specialty wing restaurant with locations at 123 Regent Ave. W. in the Royal George Hotel and 1931 Pembina Hwy. in the Reset Interactive Ultralounge.

Transcona born and bred, Goertzen grew up the oldest of four children and cooked many meals for his siblings when they were young.

“A lot of that and the food channel,” he laughed when asked about his cooking training.

The idea for Little Bones began at the weekly wing nights Goertzen went to with his friends. The more they went, the more inconsistent the quality and even the size of the wings became.

Goertzen began with a food truck in 2012. He set up in a parking lot across from Kildonan Place and for the next two years built a solid following, enough to pay off his initial loans.

It was his regulars who encouraged Goertzen to open up a physical location.

“At the food truck, people are always telling me the wings are the best but they need to have beer with those wings,” Goertzen said.

“So we figured this is a place where you can come and get the best wings and have a beer with them.”

When it comes to choosing flavours, Goertzen said he has to meet the tastes of two types of wing fans.

“There’s two types of people when it comes to eating wings— the kind that only eats honey garlic or sweet chili wings and then there’s the type that tries a different one every time.

“You have to keep both sides happy.”

Little Bones offers traditional flavours such as barbecue and lemon pepper, but also has unique options such as creamy garlic, pineapple curry and A.N.D.E ( a near death experience).
Goertzen uses trial and error when choosing new flavours but admits people love their wings no matter what is on them.

“I realized over the last couple of years that it’s pretty hard to screw up the flavour of a wing,” Goertzen admitted. “You can pretty much put anything flavour-wise on a wing and it comes out good.

“For the most part, as there have been a couple of fails.”

As a local businessman, Goertzen knows how important it is to support other local businesses, such as his featured beer,  Farmery.

As the weather warms up so does business, Goertzen said. His food truck is booked for every weekend but one through Labour Day. He also eagerly awaits Transcona’s Hi Neighbour Festival, which runs June 3 to 5.

“You know how in retail the one day you cannot book off is Boxing Day?” Goertzen asked. “Hi Neighbor is that for us. It’s all hands on deck.”

Goertzen has learned many important lessons in the four years since he started Little Bones.

“The learning curve was huge and it is still happening,” he admitted. “You can never be overprepared, there’s always going to be things thrown into your spokes.”

Staffing and equipment costs were more than he expected too.

One last lesson has been that the view looks a bit different when you are the boss.

“When you are working for somebody you always think you can do your boss’ job better than he can,” Goertzen said.

“When you are the boss it is a lot harder than you think.”

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