Casual dining and sports bar concept Wingers Restaurant and Alehouse is pushing expansion in new markets as it works to increase a unit count that’s hovered around 20 for the last five years.
The husband-and-wife business team of James and Amy Dwyer signed an area development agreement with Wingers to open restaurants in central and southeast Texas. Their first location is set to open next year in College Station, home to Texas A&M, which has more than 70,000 students.
The Dwyers, who both retired after more than 25 years in the oil and gas industry, aren’t completely new to the food and beverage world, having opened a coffee shop about three years ago. This marks their entry into franchising.
After leaving the energy sector, Amy became the director of Texas A&M’s professional MBA program and James joined the university advisory board. Once settling there, they noticed a need in the community for more restaurants.
“Believe it or not, despite being a town of 210,000 people, there’s not a lot of offerings, so we went down the road of finding who we should partner with to open a business here,” James Dwyer said. “We looked at several concepts and we really felt the service, product and in particular the leadership of the organization made Wingers an easy choice.”
New Wingers franchisee James Dwyer.
Dwyer added that they wanted to go the franchise route as opposed to starting a new brand on their own as a way to have a greater chance at succeeding.
“An individual company to me heightens the risk,” Dwyer said. “You can minimize that risk and maximize your probability of success by going with a franchise that has the right formula. Then, it becomes a matter of location and execution.”
Founded in 1993, Wingers Restaurant and Alehouse is a brand with a casual menu and craft beers. The company has 21 units, 13 of them franchised, with the majority in the mountain region of the United States.
The agreement with the Dwyers, though, is a move to help expand the brand’s footprint in the Southwest and Midwest. In addition to Texas, Wingers signed a multi-unit agreement with SRJ Capital this summer to develop three locations in Oklahoma.
While there are plans for growth, Dwyer stressed the importance of getting the first restaurant launched before moving forward with other units in Texas.
“I think we want this one to be a success in College Station first,” Dwyer said. “We have some other sites in other communities that we’re looking at, but I think it’s important that we open this one and have success.”
Helping to make the restaurant a success, Dwyer said, are the number of sports fans in the community. In addition to being home to the Texas A&M Aggies in college sports, College Station is about 100 miles northwest of Houston, which has several professional teams.
“It’s a sports town, so an alehouse that will have premier sports events broadcast all over the place will be a big hit here,” Dwyer said. “This one is also a bit more unique, too, in that it’s more family friendly.”
Wingers Restaurant and Alehouse CEO Eric Slaymaker.
Wingers President Eric Slaymaker also believes the College Station unit will be a success based on the overall experience the Dwyers bring.
“As we got a chance to know James and Amy, we were very impressed with their business acumen, knowledge of the area and understanding of the requirements of the food industry,” Slaymaker said.
Wingers, ranked No. 467 on the Franchise Times Top 500, had systemwide sales of $36.8 million in 2021, up 19.5 percent. The initial investment for a Wingers restaurant ranges from $434,000 to about $1 million.