By Shay Moser
Photos by Kimberly Carrillo.
Though born and raised in Kentucky, Jason Higgins has spent a lot of time developing his successful regular and vegan spicy Buffalo sauces in Arizona.
As the creator of Jupiter Rings Buffalo Sauce, Higgins opened Jupiter Wings restaurant in Peoria on his birthday, July 29, so Valley residents can taste his vegan-friendly wings and Buffalo sauce in person again.
“We serve everything on our menu as traditional or vegan, and we are known for our amazing Buffalo sauce, but also for having the best vegan wings in the world,” says Higgins. “Restaurant visitors can also get loaded fries or something off the seafood menu. All our menu is available online for carryout or delivery.”
Buffalo sauce beginnings
Higgins started his career as a sous chef in Lexington after finishing his culinary arts degree at Sullivan University in Lexington. While he left the restaurant industry because it wasn’t suitable for raising his son as a single dad, Higgins hosted game days at home for friends and family, serving wings, nachos, and other finger foods with his homemade Buffalo sauce. His wings — and especially the Buffalo sauce he used — were everyone’s favorite. That’s when he realized there might be a market for it.
“I made a bottle of my sauce for the buyer at a local co-op store,” says Higgins, who worked full-time as a warehouse project manager and did side hustles to help make ends meet.
The next day, she ordered five cases from him. Motivated, Higgins began offering samples around his hometown, which helped secure a butcher shop and a farm store to carry the sauce with the co-op.
But continuing to build the business in Kentucky wasn’t in the plans.
Starting from scratch in Arizona
As Higgins continued making sauce and sharing samples, his mother-in-law, who lived in Phoenix, was diagnosed with cancer. Relocating to the Valley in 2018 to help care for her meant making the sauce to share in new places.
Farmer’s markets and a few restaurants brought in revenue, but it wasn’t until he demoed the sauce at a vitamin and sports supplement store that business changed. When the store manager couldn’t try the regular sauce on her diet, Higgins made a vegan version.
“I wanted her to be able to try it, especially since she allowed me to sample the sauce at her store,” Higgins explains.
Not only did the manager love it, but non-vegans did, too. Its success prompted Higgins to reach out to vegan grocers across the nation. Food Fight! Grocers, one of the largest vegan chains, contacted him to sell the vegan version of Jupiter Rings Buffalo Sauce. Sprouts stores nationwide began carrying the sauce soon after.
Opening Jupiter Wings
Even though Higgins never intended to open a restaurant, he and his older son, Rashaad, opened the first Jupiter Wings restaurant in May 2020 after previously serving wings at Fuego Bistro in Phoenix.
“When Fuego Bistro wasn’t open, I could share my wings and sauces with the public in its space,” says Higgins. “The owner, Jeff Ward, could see the popularity of my offerings and helped me find my first location.”
By October 2020, with help from Rashaad, who inspired the business name, there were four Jupiter Wings locations in the Valley.
“Rashaad loved studying the solar system when he was growing up, and Jupiter Rings is a combination of our initials,” Higgins says.
But in late 2020, a life-changing event for Rashaad pushed Higgins to focus on his son and family.
“At that time, dealing with the restaurants and my son was too much. It wasn’t about business; I was a single father. I had lost my best friend. So, I kept one location, on Northern and 19th Avenue through 2022,” explains Higgins. But after four burglaries in eight months, Higgins closed the last location.
The break from the restaurant business allowed Higgins to focus on his family and son and make and sell his regular and vegan Buffalo sauces. Today, he sells the spicy Buffalo sauces in nine countries and 4,500 stores, restaurants, and businesses worldwide.
“I hope Jupiter Rings becomes a household name,” he says.
Rashaad is recovering with Higgins’ parents in Kentucky and hopes to open a Jupiter Wings restaurant someday.
While Higgins celebrates the opening of the new location on 91st Avenue and Union Hills in the ABCO Center, he puts family first as a single father, living close to his kids’ schools. He also makes Buffalo sauce and works at the restaurant around their school calendars.
Everything on the menu can be traditional and made for vegans. “If one family member is a meat eater and the other a vegan, they can get what they want,” he says.
Customers can order the sauce online or buy it at the restaurant.
Visit the website at jrwings.com or call 623-231-5798 to order online. For dining or pickup, visit 8976 W. Union Hills Dr., Suite 101, Peoria.
This content is sponsored by Jupiter Wings.
