Staff Report

Over the years, Jefferson’s Manchester has developed a loyal following throughout the area. In turn, the community has voted Jefferson’s as the home of Manchester’s Finest Wings for 2026.

“It’s definitely always a surprise. My team works very hard, they make sure to the best of their ability that the food is always as good as it can be, but it always takes me by surprise,” Jefferson’s Manchester General Manager Kellan Johnson said. “Small things like this mean the world to us. As a chain, as a franchise, we strive to get here so it’s pretty cool.”

This year’s selection also gave Jefferson’s back-to-back finest wings recognition, something that was another point of pride for the restaurant.

“It definitely touches my soul a little bit that it’s consistent,” Johnson said. “It’s always a good feeling to know that the community is consistently thinking of us as we do them, so it’s pretty cool. It’s pretty cool to get it two years in a row.”

Using fresh, never frozen wings, there is no shortage of flavor variety at Jefferson’s, with 22 different sauce options listed on the menu. This includes popular mainstays and more unique options as well, with newcomers sprinkled in from time to time.

“We always try to switch it up. We don’t want to serve the same thing all the time,” Johnson said. “We keep our popular ones and your most common flavors like honey barbecue, hot, medium, mild, things like that. Then we have our specialty firecracker and hot honey citrus, things like that. Switching it up with new flavors.”

In addition to the extensive list of sauces, Johnson believes what really separates Jefferson’s from the competition is its double-dipped wings.

“We’re known for our double-dipped. I know a lot of people get it confused, because you would think double-dipping them in two different sauces is how some people’s minds would just originally think is how it is,” Johnson said. “Double-dipped is what Jefferson’s is known for. We take it, we will toss it in our turbo sauce, which is one of our hotter sauces, but then we deep-fry it again for 30 seconds, which is a lot less heat, good flavor and it’s more crispy. I think that’s one of our main reasons why our wings are different than everybody else’s.”

While the community has shown its appreciation for Jefferson’s over the years, the restaurant has also returned the favor. Jefferson’s has recognized local coaches and teachers of the year, as well as helped raise money for various programs.

Additionally, Jefferson’s is part of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce.

“Sometimes I’ll call different locations, feed them lunch. Unfortunately, we don’t get to do it this year, but Lemonade Day that they do around town and little things like that,” Johnson said. “We’ll do give-back nights for the high school or any of the local teams that want to raise money for their baseball, football, basketball teams. Anything that we can do to help them and also get our name out there as well.”