30% growth in event revenue in 2023 for the Nation's favourite chicken wing festival
Wing Fest is the undisputed king of chicken wing festivals – and the largest event of its kind anywhere in the world. Its flagship London festival attracts over 20,000 visitors each day, all eager to sample award-winning wings and enjoy the vibrant atmosphere that has made Wing Fest a fan favourite.
With crowds flocking to food trucks and bars, speed of payment is critical. Queues can stretch over 100 metres, and every second counts for traders looking to serve customers quickly and maximise revenue during the short window of each event. Reliable, high-speed connectivity ensures transactions process instantly – keeping queues moving and customers happy.
Beyond the food and fun, connectivity is mission critical for the event’s production team, who rely on seamless communication for safety and logistics. The marketing and media teams also depend on stable WiFi to create and share real-time content, driving online engagement and event visibility.
To keep every part of the operation connected – from VIPs and journalists to vendors and staff – Wing Fest needed a network capable of supporting thousands of simultaneous users and transactions.
That’s where Gorilla Events, the organisers behind Wing Fest, turned to Wireless Solutions – a trusted partner with the expertise to design and deliver a robust, high-performance WiFi network. The goal: zero downtime, lightning-fast payment processing, and connectivity that could scale with the growing success of this global festival phenomenon.
WiFi without downtime
Seamless trader connectivity from start to finish
By 2023, Gorilla Events had expanded Wing Fest into five major festivals across the UK, each attracting record-breaking crowds. Over ten years, the event’s rapid growth had seen not only a surge in ticket sales but also a dramatic increase in food and drink transactions – putting greater pressure than ever on network performance.
At each festival site, Gorilla Events required high-availability connectivity to power operations across multiple areas – including trader zones, production teams, stage and entertainment areas, media hubs, and VIP sections. The WiFi also needed the capacity to support live social media streaming and real-time digital engagement throughout the event.
Many venues were located in busy city centres, where network congestion was already high. The challenge was to ensure each site’s internet infrastructure could handle the intense volume of users and devices without compromise.
Whereas in the early days traders relied on their own 4G/5G connections to take payments, the rise in network contention with the growing event numbers meant that 4G/5G networks could no longer be relied on.
The impact was tangible – lost sales, disrupted communications, and inefficiencies across production teams. To eliminate these issues, Gorilla Events turned to Wireless Solutions for a dedicated, enterprise-grade event WiFi solution designed to deliver seamless, high-speed, and always-on connectivity – ensuring every payment, upload, and live stream went through without interruption.
The solution
Wireless Solutions implemented a high-availability connectivity solution across the entire Wing Fest site, providing ample bandwidth for traders and production teams, while also supporting contractors, media, and VIP guests.
A core network site office acted as the central hub for the event’s WiFi infrastructure, with internet connectivity delivered via satellite. To ensure continuity, 4G and 5G connections were configured as backup links, ready to take over seamlessly in the event of any satellite or hardware interruption.
A backup core switch provided an additional layer of resilience, automatically activating if the primary switch encountered a fault. Across the site, a network of wireless access points enabled traders in every area to connect efficiently, avoiding contention and maintaining strong, stable connections.
The results spoke for themselves:
99.99% uptime across the network. No devices experienced a single drop in connectivity throughout the six-day event, thanks to the enterprise-grade design and months of meticulous preparation.
Faster, uninterrupted payments, making it the most profitable year across all Wing Fest locations.
A fully connected Media Centre, confidently sharing live social updates and promoting the event to audiences worldwide.
Happy traders, happy production teams, and a proud Wireless Solutions crew.
“The WiFi was just brilliant. Silky smooth from start to finish.”
What next?
We’re now looking at ways in which the internet can drive more revenue from Gorilla’s events, and working with them on their other events across the country. We also provide full connectivity and support for their HQ building. We’ve formed a trusted partnership for the future.
Client Comment
Dan Baxter
“Anyone working in events will know how hard it is to pull them off successfully. Every year there are new challenges, growth ambitions and fresh logistics to factor in.
Wireless Solutions work with us to provide the quality assurance that our connectivity solution is fit for purpose. From pre-event briefing to network design and build, they bring the expertise and ideas that we now rely on to ensure that we’re maximising our potential.
Once the project scope has been agreed, they deliver. Every time.
Wireless Solutions is a trusted partner and we see an exciting future with lots of potential ahead.”
What Wireless Solutions Can Offer You
We’re committed to bringing better event WiFi to the UK market.
Here’s why we’re different.
Experienced Network design
We produce site designs to show you exactly where you'll get connectivity. By agreeing this up front, we know your requirement and make sure we deliver.
Cost management
We'll make sure your costs are managed at every stage thanks to our thorough design process. This means no nasty surprises.
Excellent track record
With 100% uptime in 2023, as to speak to one of our clients to hear it from the horse's mouth.
Professional team
Our team of experienced engineers will give you exceptional service, and be a pleasure to work with. We see ourselves as part of your team.
New ideas
We have ideas that go beyond just connectivity. Our experience of working with large events means that we can bring fresh ideas to your table.
Delivery that goes to plan
We have a track record of delivering to the expectations set when we agree the contract. We're always on time, on budget.
