Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux has offered a closer look at the streamlined restaurant prototype it first announced in August, outlining a format intended to help operators use space more efficiently while preserving the chain’s full menu and sports-bar experience.
The first store built around the design is scheduled to open early next year at 8150 Perkins Road in Baton Rouge, La. The “next-generation sports bar model” was designed by Madrid-based restaurant design firm Livit for smaller locations of 3,500 to 4,500 square feet. By comparison, a traditional Walk-On’s occupies 7,000 to more than 8,000 square feet. The Baton Rouge prototype is approximately 3,688 square feet and will seat 125 guests.
According to Walk-On’s, the smaller footprint is intended to help operators maximize space, improve operations and create a more engaging guest experience. The design also draws on lessons from existing restaurants, including a 3,700-square-foot location at The Battery in Atlanta. That restaurant demonstrated that the brand could deliver its full menu and sports-bar experience in a more compact, inline format, the company said. Walk-On’s is using those findings for a purpose-built prototype that is meant to give franchisees more options.
Back-of-house and service changes
In the back of house, the prototype introduces equipment such as new clamshell griddles. Walk-On’s says these additions are intended to simplify training, improve consistency and reduce ticket times without compromising the ability to serve the full Walk-On’s menu.
In the front of house, the bar remains the center of the restaurant. It uses a peninsula-style configuration that can adapt to different layouts. Near the hostess stand, pickup cubbies are designed to fill off-premise orders without disrupting restaurant flow.
Flexible “kit of parts” for franchisees
Instead of a single fixed layout, the new prototype is built as a flexible “kit of parts.” That approach allows franchisees to select or add key elements based on their market, site and personal preference, according to the company.
The company says the purpose-built prototype is intended to give franchisees more options as they consider where and how to build. It also keeps the full menu and sports-bar experience central to the format.
“We wanted to rethink what the Walk-On’s experience can look like without losing what makes us Walk-On’s,” said Brandon Landry, CEO and co-founder of Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux. “The new design gives our franchisees more flexibility in where and how they build, while keeping the energy, hospitality and community connection our guests know and love.”
Walk-On’s was founded in 2003 in Baton Rouge by LSU Basketball walk-ons Landry and Jack Warner. The brand now has more than 80 locations nationwide.