Is Buffalo Wild Wings a GO for downtown Akron? Here's what we know
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Downtown Akron will soon have a Buffalo Wild Wings GO in its collection of restaurants.
The pop-up restaurant should open in early August, according to Rick Small, director of marketing for Grube Inc., which owns and operates the majority of Buffalo Wild Wings locations in Northeast Ohio.
It will have features for easy ordering and pickup, including a walk-up counter, digital menu boards and heated takeout lockers. Despite the restaurant's focus on takeout and delivery, it will still have patio seating and package beer.
"This will be the first (Buffalo Wild Wings GO) in the United States with alcohol," Small said. "We like to be cutting edge and try things out, so we're sort of the pilot program for this one."
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This is a fairly new concept for the casual dining restaurant chain and is designed primarily for takeout and delivery, with limited indoor seating. The company's first GO restaurant opened last year in Georgia. Now there are 24 similar locations across the country.
The restaurant will be located on a corner of the high-profile intersection of Exchange and Main streets. The space, where signage for Buffalo Wild Wings GO recently appeared, at 349 S. Main St. used to be Zar Nightclub.
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Buffalo Wild Wings is no stranger to the area, and at one point had a full-service restaurant across from the University of Akron campus that was often referred to as BW-3. This location closed in 2016 due to a court battle between Buffalo Wild Wings corporate and the restaurant's owners, who later opened a new restaurant, named Gridiron, in the same space.
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Buffalo Wild Wings is owned by Inspire Brands, part of Atlanta-based Roark Capital Group, a $33 billion investment firm whose restaurant holdings include Dunkin, The Cheesecake Factory, Sonic Drive-In, Arby's, Baskin-Robbins, Aunty Anne's, Cinnabon, Carvel, JimmyJohn's, and others.
Contact Beacon Journal reporter Tawney Beans at tbeans@gannett.com and on Twitter @TawneyBeans.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Buffalo Wild Wings GO moving in to former downtown Akron nightclub
