Legend Larry's started the way a lot of great things do: a bunch of high school buddies in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, messing around in the kitchen and arguing about whose sauce was better.
Turns out, Larry Schaefer's was.
Back in the 1970s, Larry and his friends from Sheboygan North High School spent their free time cooking up wing sauces and dreaming about opening a place of their own. Life had other plans. Larry married his wife Tammy, they started a family with their kids Amber and Dane, and for the next 15 years he drove trucks over the road while the dream quietly waited.
It was Tammy who finally said: the time is right. When her brother put a property on the corner of Pennsylvania and North 8th Street up for sale, she made the case and Larry didn't need much convincing. "That was the approval I needed," he says.
October 10, 2001.
Legend Larry's opened its doors in Sheboygan. Fresh wings, never frozen. Sauces built from recipes Larry had been perfecting for over two decades.
The neighborhood noticed. Then the city noticed. Then the rest of the country started paying attention.
Since that first year, Legend Larry's has taken home more than 30 awards at the National Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo, New York, and earned induction into the Buffalo Wing Hall of Flame. Our Medium and Hot sauces have gone head to head with the best in the country year after year, and they keep coming home with 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 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 too.
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 incredible, leave satisfied.
We're not trying to be fancy. We're trying to be the best.
30+
National Awards
4
Wisconsin Locations
13
Signature Sauces