February 18, 2025
Sienna Wings’ Teen CEO Has Plans For A Food Empire After College Graduation
The 19-year-old has plans to build a delicious food empire with Sienna Wings.
At just 16 years old, Tyla Simone Crayton knew her Houston-based chicken wing business had the potential to go big.
Starting off with a small but mighty high school staff, Crayton has taken Sienna Wings to many retail shelves. Once discovering her hitmaker on the rise, Crayton dedicated her time to further developing the sauce and brand itself, transitioning her high school studies online to do so.
She argues that the educational shift led to her success.
“That’s the first thing, and then advocating for yourself in any environment is the second thing,” she told ABC13. “Because you’ve got to use the system to your advantage. You can’t just play the cards that are handed to you.”
With her signature wing sauce in tow, the soon-to-be college graduate believes her brand can hit a million in sales. Attending the School of Business at Berkeley, Crayton’s storefront opened in 2023 with aptly named wing and fry combos, given the CEO’s younger age.
After her graduation, she plans to hit the ground running to scale up the marketing for the restaurant. This includes pop-ups at Texas-based grocer H-E-B and getting the Sienna Sauce into more hands.
“I might have to come here and show up by myself, but that’s okay,” she said. “I’m setting weekly goals and just really grinding.”
Crayton’s saucy wings have already garnered national acclaim. Before her 2024 recognition from PepsiCo’s Dig In program with a Restaurant Royalty title, Crayton also gained a $25K check from the former morning show Strahan & Sara when first launching her business.
With a Shark Tank appearance also on her resume, Crayton says her drive to keep growing comes from her mother.
“I learned a lot of grit and grind and resilience from my mother and just watching her get through a lot of things,” Crayton said. “When you’re raised like that, you just don’t have the luxury to play around-especially being Black. And being a Black woman…It’s like, failure is never really a choice.”
With plans to expand restaurant hours as well as its menu, Crayton has yet to reach her own ceiling as she builds a wing sauce empire.
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