Wingers Alehouse Brand Pillars Define Franchise Distinctions

Pillars Identify Key Characteristics: ‘Alehouse 101’ (as in 101 Types of Beer), Handcrafted Food, Community- and Family-Friendly Restaurant Focus, and Exceptional Service

Earlier this year, Wingers Alehouse co-founder and CEO Eric Slaymaker gathered a trio of his operations leaders and challenged them to identify and succinctly articulate the Wingers Alehouse brand pillars, “the things we stand our ground for at any Wingers Alehouse location, whether you’re a franchise owner, a team member or a guest.”

In informal meetings, the leaders shared their ideas, boiling them down to four critical areas that make the family-friendly restaurant franchise special, including: “Alehouse 101,” an extensive selection of craft beers with 101 options across draft, bottles and cans; handcrafted food; a family-friendly, sports bar-like atmosphere that celebrates the local community; and a commitment to exceptional service.

Their thoughts did not represent a departure from anything Slaymaker had emphasized since he and brother Scott Slaymaker founded the brand in 1993 in a 2,700-square-foot Wingers American Diner in Bountiful, Utah. “But I think it was important for us to quantify and articulate these as our Wingers Alehouse brand pillars that are the foundation of everything that we do, especially as the Wingers Alehouse franchise expands,” says Slaymaker, who introduced the pillars to franchise owners and their general managers at a brand conference this summer.

Now with 22 locations across the Mountain West and Midwest, Wingers Alehouse has continued to expand and evolve. “The four pillars not only define what Wingers Alehouse stands for, but they challenge us to continue evolving and improving in each of these areas,” Slaymaker says.

Wingers Alehouse Brand Pillars

1. Alehouse 101

“As ‘America’s Small-Town Alehouse,’ we want to be the community gathering place for craft beer in every community where we open a Wingers Alehouse,” Slaymaker says. “In all our new stores, we carry 101 different beers. Typically, 40 of those are draft and about 61 are cans or bottles, and the majority are from regional microbreweries.”

Wingers Alehouse pays tribute to regional microbrewers with prominent beer art galleries featuring logos and graphics from their labels. Other décor includes keg tops for Wingers Bros. signature beers affixed to walls. “We’re celebrating these craft brew communities with their artwork, and it’s these types of details that really create a connection with our guests. As we enter these new markets, we really embrace these communities in a way that is different than almost any national brand does,” Slaymaker says.

Wingers Alehouse also has focused on its training curriculum for servers so they can help guests increase their enjoyment by discovering new flavors and styles of beer, as well as craft cocktails, he says.

2. Handcrafted Food

Wingers Alehouse is known for bone-in chicken wings and boneless Sticky Fingers, all fresh and hand-breaded, which come with a choice of 16 different sauces or rubs including Wingers Original Amazing Sauce. But the menu also includes a variety of burgers, Southwestern favorites, vegetarian and gluten-free options, and innovative limited-time offerings.

“We’ve always taken pride in the quality of our food. And we’re continuing to challenge ourselves by offering more fresh, more bold, more flavorful foods that wow our guests from the first bite,” Slaymaker says.

We don’t want to just build a restaurant in a community. We want to create a community hub.

3. Family-Friendly Restaurants, Community-Focused Atmosphere

Wingers Alehouse has always been family-friendly with a sports bar-like vibe including big-screen TVs that encourage guests to linger and enjoy a game and each other’s company. A new interior design prototype goes further to create a warm, inviting atmosphere with finishes such as brick and wood, and seating designed for stay-a-while comfort.

The prototype aims to ensure design consistency across Wingers Alehouse locations, while allowing — and even encouraging — franchise owners to add their own touches that pay homage to their local communities. Such décor may include displays of local sports jerseys and locally created artwork, as well as hyperlocal items such as community events postings and an electronic bulletin board of sorts that can be customized to commemorate a patron’s birthday, a team’s victory or other events.

“We don’t want to just build a restaurant in a community. We want to create a community hub,” Slaymaker says. “Having opened the first restaurant in 1993, we’re proud to have served generations of families. We’ve been privileged to be part of their birthdays, graduations, retirements, and we hope Wingers Alehouse will continue to be part of these traditions for years to come.”

4. Exceptional Service

Providing unparalleled service is a given at Wingers Alehouse. “We know that great food can get people in the door, but we really think that what makes people come back again and again is service and attention to detail,” Slaymaker says.

Research shows that consumers increasingly value a dining experience over just a meal, according to Nations Restaurant News, which cited Yelp surveys. Superior service contributes to that experience.

“We need to be more in the human connection business,” Slaymaker says. “As we deal more and more with AI, we’re all going to be striving to actually talk to real people. I feel like the future for us and our business involves creating that setting that maintains the human touch, and that’s why exceptional service is our fourth Wingers Alehouse brand pillar.”

For more information about franchise opportunities, visit the Wingers Alehouse website.