WHO BE GURTY?
Gurty (James) is the Founder of Gurt Wings who in a previous life was working in a corporate job importing food from around the world. He got to travel all over the world eating lots of different foods but became very fond of American Fried Chicken, especially Chicken Wings. On his many trips to the US he would always make time to seek wing joints and fried chicken joints in the areas he visited. He soon came to realise there were no decent wings here in the UK at the time!
Although he got to try different variations of the Chicken Wing: Korean, Chinese, Indian, American and all in between, he took a particular liking to the American Buffalo Wing. Every place he visited seemed to have their own unique taste.
Gurty started experimenting with his own recipe and began making his own at home, including the wings to go with it. This soon became a bigger idea which is when he bought a small table top commercial fryer. He wanted to put his own spin on the Buffalo Wing, to mix a Southern Style US Fried Chicken coated Wing with Buffalo Sauce.
After many months of failures, frustrations, eating a ton of fried chicken, reading up on fried chicken coatings, driving his wife Mrs Gurt mad with the smell of Fried Chicken around the house, and working on frying techniques, he finally found THE ONE!
THE ONE is the same original recipe Fried Chicken that you find on the Gurt Trucks to this very day!
He set up a small prep kitchen in the garage, and would invite neighbours and friends round to try his chicken over some drinks, and everyone kept telling him he needed to get this chicken out to a wider audience.
In January 2017 he bought a gazebo and a full floor standing 20 litre LPG Gas Fryer and some bits of kit needed to sell his chicken to the general public. At this stage he was a little naive in thinking it would all be easy… With very little experience or knowledge in catering, he started researching what he needed to do to get his Chicken Wings out to the general public. This included the boring stuff like Insurance, Health & Hygiene Level 3 Course, Council Checks and Registration. You name it, he had not thought of it. Over a year had passed, and eventually everything was ready to go, and so “Gurt Wings” was born.
Why gurt wings?
Being brought up in a Bristolian family and having all his family from in and around Bristol, ‘Gurt’ was a term that was used in his house and with family while growing up. ‘Gurt’ being used as a Bristolian or South West term meaning ‘great’ or ‘big’ it just seemed like a perfect fit for his wings!
Where it started…
February 2017, Gurty had managed to secure his first proper public gig with Moor Beer Brewery in Bristol on 21st April 2018, with help from his street food mentor “Mark Powell” from Bristol’s iconic Taco Truck “I Scream Tacos”. Leading up to the event, to tackle his nerves, he organised a meeting with the legends at Kerb Street Food. They offered one to one consultations to help street food companies get off the ground. After some praise and encouragement he held is head high, and Gurty was feeling proud and ready for his first ever event with Gurt Wings!
a surprise…
A week before his first gig, Gurty received a call from his best mate Chris (aka Chief) to say he had managed to get Gurty a van for his new business venture. Chris surprised him with a Mercedes Sprinter Luton Van (Gurtrude) with a tail lift and Gurt Wings branding. On the seat was a card which said “Thank you for being my Best Man at my wedding, the van is yours to keep, good luck with the new business venture”. Both Gurty and Mrs Gurt were absolutely gobsmacked and will be forever grateful to Chris for doing that, that’s a proper mate!
Further down the line some of you will know that this van was turned into a proper food truck by Gurty and his brother in law Chris (Big thanks to Chris too) and this was the first ever food truck called ‘Gurtrude,’ that still lives to this very day. It is now being used by one of Big Burger Boys “Danny’s Burgers” at Fierce and Nobel Brewery, his truck is our Gurtrude.
the first event…
Saturday 21st April 2018 the new van was loaded up, Gurty and Mrs Gurt prepped all the chicken, sauce and flour mixes, and off they went to Moor Brewery on Days Road in Bristol. It was a lovely sunny day, plenty of people came out, people they had never met before and are still friends with now, like Patch and Rich from 3 Peeps in a Podcast, Nic Enjtee and Mike BBQ nutbox.
The menu was small back then, all they had to offer was 5 x Wings with Buffalo & Blue Cheese, 5 x Wings with Garlic & Lime Mayo, Tater Tots, Loaded Tater Tots with Cheese and Bacon, that was it.
We loved it, the customers loved it and it was ALMOST the perfect day until Gurty saw a huge black cloud… it absolutely chucked it down, and everything was soaked. After that, Gurty took a month out to reflect on the event and decide what was next. Then he carried on doing more and more street food events, markets and pop-ups.
wing fest…
On the 5th August 2017 Gurty and Mrs Gurt went to Wing Fest London at Printworks. This was Gurty’s 3rd time at Wing Fest as a punter, but as he left in 2017 he looked Mrs Gurt in the eyes and said, “Next year we are coming as traders!”, Mrs Gurt said “You’re mad, but let’s do it!”.
And so it happened… August 2018 Gurty took Gurt Wings to Wing Fest London! Back then Gurt Wings was the only trader from the South West, and 90% of the traders were from in or around London. Gurtrude was loaded (overloaded) with everything they needed for the weekend to the point where on the way they had a tyre blowout on the van. After a quick tyre change they got to Wing Fest and swiftly set up, ready for trading on both Saturday and Sunday.
Gurty remembers it well, the gates opened and everyone rushed in and queues began to form at every trader. It was all going super smooth until Gurty decided to turn up the fryer temperature and cause a fire which got them shut down for 2 hrs by fire marshals. Ben Wingmans came to the rescue and helped them get going again, legend, big up Ben Wingmans!
Their two entries to Wing Fest London 2018 were Gurt Buffalo & Blue Cheese (same recipe now) and Pigs Might Fly, which was their Wild Wing. The Wild Wing was soaked in Somerset Cider and Herbs and then tossed in a dredge that had Pork Scratching crumb in it, fried and served with Apple & Cider Cinnamon Sauce.
They walked away from London Wing Fest 2018 with 3rd Place Best Buffalo Wing, and it was after that Gurty knew they had something good.
GURT WINGS NOW…
From Wing Fest to many more locations, Gurt Wings continued to grow from a converted Garage at Gurty’s house and trading from a gazebo, to a warehouse unit, prep kitchen and two food trucks operating at between 12 and 14 different locations in the South West every single week!
Gurt Wings continued to take part in Wing Fest Competitions from 2018-2023, winning many awards for their wings, including 1st place Judges Choice for Best Buffalo Wing at London Wing Fest in 2023!
The original Buffalo Wing Sauce was bottled from the start, but at the beginning of 2024 Gurt Sauces was born. 6 popular sauce flavours and the OG Chicken Salt used on Tater Tots today are now available to buy on the Gurt Wings Shop for you at home!