The Jones Group Makes Waves at Portage, Indiana, BWW With Shark Week Event

From July 22-29, The Jones Group’s Portage, Indiana, Buffalo Wild Wings^® offered up more than Wings. Beer. Sports. The location decided to capitalize on the Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week programming by creating themed cocktails.

“The drinks were a few that we already serve; we just renamed them to give them that connection with Shark Week. The alcoholic drinks ranged from $6-$9, and the non-alcoholic drinks ranged from $3-$5,” said Regional Manager Mandy McCoy. “In past years, we’ve shown Shark Week on our TVs, but we’ve never promoted it like this until Assistant Manager John Karczewski had the idea to really promote Shark Week and make it a weeklong event. Our guests really enjoyed the theme, and we are already looking for new ideas for next year.”

Cocktails included the Shark Cage Margarita, Shark Attack Sangria, Hawaiian Beach, Hammerhead Shark, Electric Shark and the Shark Bite Bloody Mary. For those not yet 21, the restaurant offered Bottom of the Ocean Lemonade, Shark Attack Lemonade and Captain Crunch’s Voyage.

“This week was not only fun for us, it was special, too,” said General Manager Darci Lopez. “Here in Portage, we really drive community connection. We take pride in working as a team to ensure our community knows we are here to serve them! This was unique because we really tried to grab hold of a different crowd that may not have planned on coming in otherwise.”

“It was the collaboration of the whole team that really brought this together, but our bartender, Brittany Long, and shift manager, Allen Long, sat down and really worked out the details,” agreed McCoy. “They also came up with drinks that we didn’t have on our menu but drinks that we could make and ring in such as the Hammerhead Shark and the Electric Shark.”

In addition to offering fun, festive drinks, The Jones Group, owned by Mike and Mark Jones, also aired live Shark Week programming on the big screens, and bartender Ricky Thompson even sported a fun Shark Week outfit and interacted with kids throughout the restaurant.

“We enjoyed the opportunity to host such a fun event and are thankful to be a part of a franchise group that encourages creativity,” explained McCoy. “It took the whole team to really bring it together, from the spark of an idea to team execution, doing what we do best in everyday operations.”

The Portage team celebrated the event as a huge success and is already looking forward to next year when it plans to host a kids’ night with more themed activities.

“This is truly a great example of a grassroots promotion that was put together by our team members,” said The Jones Group COO Kirk Hartman. “At this year’s conference, COO John Bowie committed to putting the ‘Wild’ back into Buffalo Wild Wings. This is something that The Jones Group has taken to heart and are challenging our team members to do just that every day. I believe that this promotion is a terrific example of bringing a little ‘Wild’ into our restaurants.”