Centre County’s first Buffalo Wild Wings is getting ready to open its doors.
The restaurant chain’s location at 134 S. Garner St., on the lower level of The Maxxen, will open on Monday, March 17, according to a news release. It will join Tropical Smoothie Cafe, El Jefe’s Taqueria and Mezeh Mediterranean Grill among the businesses in the mixed-use high-rise.
Known, of course, for its chicken wings, Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants offer traditional, boneless and cauliflower wings with 26 sauces and rubs, as well as burgers, chicken sandwiches, wraps, tacos, salads and a kids menu. The bar will have 30 beers on tap, including domestic, import and craft.
The State College restaurant will have “the newest Buffalo Wild Wings design with latest innovation of video displays, including a giant 14’x8’ digital screen,” according to Grube Inc., the largest privately owned franchisee of Buffalo Wild Wings with 72 locations in eight states. State College will mark Grube’s first Buffalo Wild Wings in Pennsylvania, though the chain has about two dozen other locations under different franchisees in the commonwealth.
The launch will come just before the start of the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
“We are excited to open a new Buffalo Wild Wings in State College,” said Rick Small, executive director of marketing for Grube Inc. “With wall-to-wall TVs and 30 beers on draft, Buffalo Wild Wings is the perfect spot to cheer on the Nittany Lions along with all of your favorite teams, in every sport. We also will be celebrating and supporting local teams from elementary to high school. We look forward to joining and being an active member of the State College community.”
The location will have seating for 260 — 214 inside and 46 on a patio. It is tentatively expected to be open 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.
Food will be available for delivery through DoorDash, GrubHub and Uber Eats, as well as EZ Cater for large orders for businesses and organizations.
At a liquor license transfer hearing in August, representatives for the restaurant said they expected it would employ 80 to 100 people.
State College Borough Council approved a liquor license transfer for Buffalo Wild Wings on Aug. 19, with several conditions. Among them is a requirement that at least 60% of the restaurant’s revenues come from food sales, meaning no more than 40% can come from alcohol. The franchisee will be required to provide quarterly reports verifying that it is complying with the sales ratio.
A Grube representative and the attorney representing the company on the transfer request said at the time that condition would not pose a problem. Attorney Mark Kozar said at the public hearing that Buffalo Wild Wings is “family-friendly, casual dining sports restaurant,” where alcohol is a complement to the food, not the primary attraction. Average alcohol sales for the chain’s location represent only 14.5% of revenues, with 81.5% from food and the remainder from non-alcoholic beverages.
Other conditions included that alcohol can only be sold when food is available for purchase, alcoholic drink containers cannot exceed 22 ounces and the license cannot be expanded beyond the premises or transferred to another location or business within State College without borough approval.
The opening comes after years of interest in the State College area by Buffalo Wild Wings, and interest by commercial realtors in bringing the chain to the region.
Plans for a Buffalo Wild Wings at 1308 N. Atherton St., near the intersection with Blue Course Drive in Ferguson Township, were submitted in 2015, but after multiple deadline extensions, the plans were withdrawn in 2017.
Kandy Weader, of Bennett Williams Commercial, has been the commercial leasing broker for The Maxxen for the past three years and has prospected numerous national brands for properties in State College. She said the Buffalo Wild Wings brand is a strong fit for the location and that the franchisee is investing in the space.
“It’s going to cost them, I’m going to say $300 a square foot to build this space out,” Weader said at the liquor license transfer hearing. “It’s an amazing location and the owners are very excited to have this opportunity. They feel like it’s a great fit, plus we’ve been trying to get a wing establishment of this caliber in State College for as long as I can remember. We think that’s a very good fit for our area. The Grube family has been super professional. They’re probably in the top 1% as far as professionalism in the national brands I’ve worked with.”
