Buffalo Wild Wings
Buffalo Wild Wings is getting a makeover.
- $4 unveiled a new store design this week.
- The new design features a room with gaming consoles and self-service beer on tap, as well as an increased emphasis on takeout and cocktails.
- Here is what Buffalo Wild Wings' sports bar of the future looks like.
Buffalo Wild Wings is getting a makeover.
The chain - which was acquired by $4 parent company Inspire Brands $4 - unveiled a new store design earlier this week. The revamped layout is intended to bring the chain "back to its roots as a great American sports bar," the company said in a press release.
With Xbox and PlayStation consoles, as well as new cocktails and self-service beer on tap, the new design hints at what the sports bar of the future could look like. Instead of the old-school wings and beer, Buffalo Wild Wings looks toward a future where esports is on the rise and watching games is an interactive experience.
"If you look back when Buffalo Wild Wings was really successful, it was the only one out there doing what it was doing," Inspire Brands CEO Paul Brown told Business Insider earlier this year.
"We had a nationalized local sports bar, and then more competition has come in, and I think that some of that competition has been a little bit more innovative. There's an opportunity to figure out the 21st-century incarnation of what made it so successful during the early 2000s."
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So far, Buffalo Wild Wings has opened two restaurants with the new design, in Texas and Kentucky, with plans to open two more in 2019.
Here is what that 21st-century incarnation of the sports bar might look like.