Buffalo Wild Wings announced today the unveiling of a new restaurant design, signaling another key step in the evolution of the brand. The new design brings Buffalo Wild Wings back to its roots as a great American sports bar and provides guests a unique and immersive experience to hang out, watch games and create memories with friends.
The first two restaurants featuring the new design have opened today in New Caney, Texas, and Bowling Green, Kentucky. Two additional restaurants will open in early January 2019 in Arden, North Carolina, and Fort Worth, Texas.
The new design — the organization’s first since 2012 — includes a more dominant bar that anchors the indoor and outdoor dining experience, free flowing and flexible seating areas, VIP spaces, stadium-like A/V technologies with LED modular screens and a fully enclosed patio with rollup doors and skylights.
“Buffalo Wild Wings is all about creating legendary experiences between friends, and this new design was built to do just that.
We are giving guests the flexibility and freedom to truly be themselves and experience the game on their terms.” Lyle Tick, President, Buffalo Wild Wings
Exterior
The exterior features wood, metal and brick textures with the refreshed Buffalo Wild Wings logo atop the entry to the restaurant, bordered by a single yellow LED band.
The left of the front entryway is a glass door, providing access to the patio. Along the left side of the building, past the patio is a dedicated entrance for the takeout area.
Interior
From the front waiting area, guests enter into an open layout with access to the bar, the dining space and two brand new concepts: the Dugout and the MVP room.
The restaurant’s indoor seating mixes rectangular and round table tops, as well as community tables and booths for parties of all sizes.
“We wanted to have a big variation of seating and allow guests to pull tables together as they please.
From the Dugout seating to the lounge area that’s in the patio, we’ve got booths, tables, chairs and even rails. Our guests now have choices they never had before.” Jim Cannon, Senior Vice President of Design, Architecture and Construction, Inspire Brands
Dugout
The Dugout was created to be an extension of the waiting area near the front entrance by the bar. It features comfortable lounge seating and bleachers made from recycled basketball courts.
“The Dugout is a great space for guests to grab a drink, sit on the bleachers and watch the game while they wait.
On a big night — like a UFC fight or a primetime NFL game — the bleachers transform from a cool waiting spot to one of the best seats in the bar.” Luke DeRouen, Vice President of Brand Experience and Activation, Buffalo Wild Wings
MVP Room
Another distinct feature in the new design is the MVP room, which includes two 80-inch televisions, a third 60-inch television, gaming consoles and six self-pour beer taps (subject to local restrictions).
“There’s nothing like this in the current Buffalo Wild Wings,” said Luke.
“This space really serves as three experience functions: private viewing, gaming and local activation. The local experience will be different for every community, and that’s exactly what we want. We now have an ideal spot to host local radio remotes and coaches shows, as well as an area for the local high school star to sign his Letter of Intent to play college ball.”
The MVP room will offer the best of current gaming through the latest Xbox and PlayStation consoles, as well as classic Nintendo and Super Nintendo systems. Updated A/V technology will provide a “mini stadium environment,” allowing Buffalo Wild Wings the opportunity to showcase competitive gaming from the MVP room across all screens in the restaurant.
Guests must be 21 or older to access this space.
Bar
The bar, made from recycled basketball courts, is a focal point of the design with signature domestic, import and craft beer selections featured with two rows of beer taps. This new design also makes spirits more of a feature than in the past and will enable a more ambitious cocktail program.
In addition to an LED modular jumbotron screen overhead, the bar features televisions on all sides along with flexible and community tables, providing guests unlimited views of the game no matter where they’re sitting.
Audio/Visual
One of the most unique features of the new design includes LED environmental lighting, providing the ability to create activated lighting events based on crowd noise.
Included in the newly designed restaurant is state-of-the-art audio and visual technology, which now features a digital receiver that can control all 4k televisions in the restaurant.
Buffalo Wild Wings worked to create a digital experience designed to wow its guests, including large arena-like video screens with anti-glare technology that have the functionality to show sports programming in addition to popular gaming channels, such as Twitch.
One of the most unique features of the new design includes LED environmental lighting, providing the ability to create activated lighting events based on crowd noise. The lighting combinations can be customized to include the colors of pro, college and high school sports teams, showcasing numerous team colors based on local fan bases. With a microphone inserted into a panel in the ceiling, crowd noise would activate the lights to celebrate legendary sports moments in the restaurant.
Dining Area
The larger dining area is flexible space with a mix of booths, single-tables, and community-style tables. The room can be opened up as additional overflow from the bar, or it can be closed off to create a separate area.
The dining area includes a second LED modular jumbotron screen that flanks an entire wall.
Patio
One of the highlights of the new design are the enhancements made to the patio, including rollup garage doors, skylights and direct access to the large, double-sided bar. An accordion glass door can be left open for guests to flow in and out of the restaurant, or it can be closed off for private events.
Takeout
The takeout area is enclosed separately with its own dedicated entrance. The space features a sauce bottle wall and televisions for guests to enjoy while waiting on their food. Outside, there are designated parking spots for to-go orders.
Visit Flickr below to download images of the new Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant design:
