Our Story

Larry Schaefer has been making wings since he was a teenager. Back then it was just something he and his buddies did for fun, cooking up batches, arguing about whose was best, certain they had something worth sharing with the world. Most people would have left it at that.

Larry never quite did.

He grew up watching his parents run taverns and always figured he'd do something like that someday. Over time the dream got more specific: a place of his own, his sauces, done right. He married Tammy, raised their kids Amber and Dane, and spent the next 18 years behind the wheel of a semi, logging over a million safe miles as an over-the-road truck driver. That alone is pretty legendary. But those long hauls across dark interstates gave Larry something beyond miles. They gave him time to think. About his parents' taverns. About his wings. About the place he was going to open someday when the kids were older and the moment was right. He turned it over on every run, sharpening the idea mile by mile, until it wasn't a dream anymore. It was a plan.

When Tammy's brother put a property on the corner of 8th and Pennsylvania in Sheboygan up for sale, Tammy looked at Larry and told him it was time. He didn't argue.

The neighborhood noticed. Then the city. Then Tammy had another idea.

She told Larry to take his sauces to Buffalo, New York, the birthplace of the buffalo wing, and put them up against the best in the country at the National Buffalo Wing Festival. His first year there, he brought home two first-place awards. After that, things really took off.

Since that first trip, Legend Larry's has taken home more than 30 awards at the National Buffalo Wing Festival and earned induction into the Buffalo Wing Hall of Flame. Our traditional wing sauces have gone head to head with the best in the country year after year, and keep bringing home hardware. Hot wings may have been invented in Buffalo, but they're not biased about who does them best.

Today, Legend Larry's has four restaurant locations across Wisconsin, in Sheboygan, Sheboygan Falls, Manitowoc, and Green Bay, with Milwaukee on the horizon. We serve 13 sauces ranging from our original Mild to D.O.A., and because people kept asking to take them home, we bottle them too. You'll find them at regional retailers, and they've built enough of a reputation that bars and restaurants across Wisconsin reach for them in their own kitchens.

Legend Larry's is still family owned and operated. Larry and Tammy remain closely involved, with their children Amber Willis and Dane Schaefer now leading the business into its next chapter. The mission hasn't changed since 2001: fresh wings, great sauces, no pretense. Come as you are, eat something legendary, leave satisfied.