Buffalo Wild Wings GO breaks ground in Garfield Ridge

Representatives from Chicago-based restaurant franchisee, the family-owned Hena Group, came together with local officials to hold the Sept. 11 groundbreaking for the group’s new Buffalo Wild Wings GO (BWW GO) at 6909 W. Archer Ave.

“It’s a good day today!” said Alderman Marty Quinn (13th). “Any time you get rid of a vacant building that’s been here for over ten years it brings a lot of excitement to the community. I’m really excited for the Hena Group to be here. When we think about the Archer Avenue corridor, I’ve been very intentional about using food as anchors so this is a contribution to that thought.”

For the Hena Group, the Garfield Ridge restaurant will be their 11th, having celebrated the grand opening of their 10th BWW GO on Aug. 21 in Harwood Heights, Illinois.

The BWW GO is expected to create about 30 to 40 jobs, said Kajal Patel, CEO of the 

Hena Group.

“Also, we’re creating a safe place for the community to come and hang out,” she added. “The biggest platform that Buffalo Wild Wings GO has is on-the-go delivery, for chicken. We’re excited to be part of and serving this community!”

The GO standalone store concept was developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in May, 2020 in Atlanta, GA and features a delivery oriented format, according to an April, 2024 story in Restaurant Dive magazine.

The store will follow the GO grab’n’go concept with no planned drive-through service currently; the store will have a new hot barbecue sauce and lots of new flavors coming, said owner Sam Patel. 

“This is something where you can come in, you can order ahead online, you can order via GrubHub or other delivery services in order to get your “fix” of course!” said Jodi Bernicky, marketing director for The Hena Group. “We’re really hoping to have the store open by the end of the year.”

The store is slated to be open late to cater to late-night diners although exact hours have not been decided on yet. 

Buffalo Wild Wings, founded in 1982, is the largest sports bar brand in the United States with 1,300 restaurants in eight global markets; the Harwood Heights store marked the 200th GO location nationwide.

The brand also practices corporate social responsibility and loves to be involved with the community, according to marketing director Bernicky.

“As we’re more of a sports-focused organization we try to find an athletic program we can help to support and try to get some dollars thrown their way so they can do a project they haven’t been able to do yet,” she said. “We’ll be doing that outreach soon so we can get that all set ahead of time so we can do a big check presentation for the grand opening.”

Establishing the culture within the store is The Hena Group’s Senior District Manager, Mason Rodriguez’s responsibility.

“We always make sure we are hiring very diverse crowds and obviously we want to make sure we are catering to the Latino community by making sure we have some Spanish speakers so we can cater to them in the community,” he said.

The new building will include not just one space for the new BWW GO but another vacant tenant space as well. 

Garfield Ridge business development is expected to continue due to the strong community tradition of support for one another, yet another reason, “people want to be here,” according to Garfield Ridge Chamber of Commerce president, Al Cacciotollo, who also attended the groundbreaking.

“This new Buffalo Wild Wings Go is going to spur more interest for other businesses to move here,” Cacciotollo added. “Archer Avenue’s getting pretty booked up. There’s not many spots left and that’s our goal; the chamber’s doing a fantastic job.”