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The first restaurant, co-owned by Maureen Chinsammy, opened in November at The Boulevard at the Capital Centre in Largo. A second restaurant, at George Washington University in the District, opened in January.

Six more locations, mostly in Prince George’s County, are slated to open this year.

‘‘This is absolutely insane growth,” said Richard Chinsammy, who as the company’s regional developer helps the Wow franchisees open and operate their locations. Most brands enter a market and perhaps open two locations a year, he said.

‘‘My vision of Wow in this marketplace, at least three years from now, is to have at least 20 units open,” he said.

Wow, of Covington, La., was established in 2001. It began franchising in 2002 and has nearly 50 locations, according to the International Franchise Association, of which Wow is a member.

Startup and total investment costs range from $195,000 to $527,000, based on the size and location of the model, Chinsammy said. That covers everything needed to develop the business and realize the brand, including franchise fees, marketing and advertising, he said.

Chinsammy has worked nationally and internationally with hundreds of brands, and said he recognized a concept that made Wow’s stand out.

The restaurant uses 17 international signature sauces on its wings, entrées and other dishes, which helps it appeal to a broad customer base, Chinsammy said. Texas, Thai, other Asian, Parisian, Polynesian, Mexican and Italian sauces, as well as a variety of Buffalo sauces, top the list.

‘‘You can come in and have Thai peanut sauce on your ribs. I don’t know anywhere else you can do that,” Chinsammy said.

The Gaithersburg couple balances a full schedule as parents of three teenage girls and a 6-month-old son.

‘‘The little man is with us at every meeting,” Chinsammy said of his son, Richard Chinsammy, Jr. ‘‘We try our best to balance. It’s about prioritizing.”

The ‘‘little man” was the youngest in a room of nearly 250 business leaders at the Prince George’s County’s Small Business Initiative anniversary celebration in February, where Chinsammy was awarded the Outstanding Retail Award. The business initiative is part of the county’s Economic Development Corp.

Chinsammy said he had an early insight into the restaurant industry because his father, now deceased, once owned several restaurants in Virginia.

‘‘I remember washing dishes with him. I literally grew up in the business,” Chinsammy said.

Even though he studied engineering in college, he always maintained an interest in restaurants, he said.

Chinsammy has been involved in several facets of the industry, as a franchisee who once owned a deli in Northern Virginia’s Tysons Galleria, and as a franchiser. Whatever the job required, Chinsammy said, he did it — from flipping burgers to washing dishes to fixing fryers.

After working as an international franchise support specialist, he eventually tired of travelling the world and applied for a job as a Starbucks manager in the region. Instead, his interviewer forwarded Chinsammy’s résumé way up the corporate chain.

He ultimately became director of brands, managing a portfolio of more than 300 national, regional and local restaurant concepts.

Chinsammy first discovered Wow when searching for franchise concepts to include in a bid package for Tulane University in Louisiana. Wow’s quick, inexpensive, casual environment made it the ideal concept, Chinsammy said.

Later, the restaurant’s founding brothers, Paul, Steve and Scott Ballard, invited Chinsammy on board to help grow the business, he said.

Trevor Royal, owner of a location coming in April to the Six Flags theme park in Largo, appreciated Chinsammy’s honest guidance through the franchise ownership process.

‘‘I had a really good feeling about Richard. He was upfront with me,” said Royal, of Upper Marlboro. ‘‘Everything that he said he was gonna do, he did. And because he delivered, then I delivered.”

Chinsammy credits the Ballard brothers for his own enthusiasm about the brand.

‘‘They really have a great vision,” he said. ‘‘Whatever they do in the company, they really think about it from the franchisee’s perspective.”

Wow is trying to cash in on the increasing popularity of similar eateries.

“Casual sit-down restaurants are the fastest growing segment in the restaurant industry,“ Jie Zhang, assistant professor of marketing at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park, wrote in an e-mail. “Good examples are Olive Garden, Applebee's, Red Lobster, Denny's.“

Franchising can be an easier path to success than opening an independent restaurant, said Annika Stensson, a spokeswoman for the National Restaurant Association. Franchisees get a lot of help from corporate headquarters with business planning, marketing and success formulas, don’t have to do as much research as independent restaurateurs, and can ride the chain’s name recognition, she said.

‘‘It’s kind of a quicker way to go,” Stensson said, although menu options are restricted.

And quick is the key word for Carlitta and Khary Harvin, an Oxon Hill couple who got the keys to their Wow site at the Fairwood Green Shopping Center in Bowie this week. They plan to open this summer.

‘‘We’re excited and we’re ready to open,” Carlitta Harvin said. The couple had previously considered owning another franchise, but said they were not getting the company support they needed, which they found through Wow.

‘‘This is our first [business],” said Khary Harvin. ‘‘We want to come out strong.”