Ker's WingHouse Bar & Grill

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Ker's WingHouse Bar & Grill

Type	Private (franchise)
Industry	Food Service
Founded	1994 in Largo, FL
Founder	Ed Burnett
Headquarters	Florida locations = 22
Key people	Ed Burnett - Founder/Creator and owner Crawford Ker - investor/owner
Products	Wings, Burgers, Sandwiches, Alcohol
Revenue	$60 million (2008)
Number of employees	1,700
Parent	ARC Group Inc.
Website	http://www.winghouse.com/

Ker's WingHouse Bar & Grill is a restaurant chain based in Florida, created and founded by Ed Burnett, a Canadian restaurant entrepreneur. After opening his first WingHouse location, Burnett sought out investors to open additional WingHouse locations. Burnett accepted investor Crawford Ker (a former National Football League player) to assist financing the expansion.

Investment[]

When Ker was playing for the Denver Broncos, he purchased part interest in the Frat House, a restaurant in Gainesville, Florida. The eatery failed, due to numerous underage drinking busts, and Ker lost his entire investment. It was an expensive lesson about absentee ownership.^[1]

Opening[]

After Clearwater, Florida chicken wing pioneering restaurant chain Hooters rapidly expanding, Florida based, Canadian-born restaurant entrepreneur Ed Burnett saw the opportunity. Burnett secured the rights to a closed restaurant ("Knockers") and opened "The WingHouse" restaurant at 7369 Ulmerton Road, Largo, Florida, a high traffic corridor. He strategically selected the restaurant in between where people work (commercial real estate) and live (residential real estate), to appeal to the local lunch crowd and family dining crowd. This flagship location proved to be a success soon after launching and is the model that the chain expanded on.

Burnett, looking to expand to additional locations, accepted a financing partner (Crawford Ker) during this timeframe, to open additional locations and beyond. Burnett's goal was to open 20 to 50 locations, and then sell the chain to a larger restaurant chain or investors.

Burnett would ultimately regret his choice of investor.

In 1992, Ker retired from the NFL and took a job selling cars at a local dealer. In 1994, he invested half interest in a Largo, Florida wing restaurant called, "Wing House" that imitated Hooters. This time, he was again absentee owner, but Ker's business partner handled the management. After losing $1,000 a month for the first quarter, Crawford was certain he could do a better job. The restaurant was always The Wing House, and the atmosphere was always toned down to make it more family friendly.^[1] The restaurant did well and two additional locations were opened in the Tampa Bay area in the following three years.

Location closures[]

• Winghouse of Winter Park (227 S. Semoran Blvd., Winter Park, FL 32792-4408) closed its doors permanently
• Winghouse of St. Petersburg (6445 4th Street N, St. Petersburg, FL 33702-7513) closed its doors permanently
• WingHouse of Fort Myers (4606 S. Cleveland Ave., Fort Myers. FL 33907-1316) closed its doors permanently on January 20, 2019
• WingHouse of Doral closed its doors permanently on February 20, 2019
• WingHouse of Altamonte Springs (275 W State Road 436, Altamonte Springs, FL 32714-4201) is temporary closed

Lawsuit[]

Crawford Ker and "WingHouse Girls" in 2013

Ker won a $1.2-million jury award from Hooters in late 2004, which had sued him for trademark violations for allegedly using their uniforms and decor. After a three-week trial in which lawyers discussed hula hoops, surfboards, scrunchy socks, pantyhose and something called "vicarious sexual recreation", the jury ruled that no trademark infringement existed and Hooters was penalized for their frivolous lawsuit.^[2] Hooters appealed the decision, but in June, 2006, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta upheld the verdict.^[3]

Expansion[]

As of 2007, the company had 1,700 employees at 22 locations with revenue of nearly $60 million. Ker attended, and the company participated in, the 2007 National Buffalo Wing Festival and placed first in the traditional x-hot sauce category and gained some national recognition.^[4]

Franchising[]

On June 4, 2008 the company announced the launch of its national franchise program. In mid-2008 the chain operated 19 locations in Florida and Texas and expected to add six franchises by the end of 2008, and 48 by 2011. The initial focus was for franchises in the Southeastern US.^[5][6]

WingHouses feature several amenities that differ from other wing restaurants, including Hooters. There is a full liquor bar in every store, sports memorabilia line the walls instead of NASCAR and most locations include a game room.^[7]

Ownership history[]

• ARC Group Inc. (Oct. 2019 - present)
• Soaring Wings LLC ( 2014 - Oct. 2019) Soaring Wings LLC is now inactive (as of 2021)

Charity[]

Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, Florida attracted the rich and famous; Ker's WingHouse hosted three events to raise money for charity^[8]

References[]

• http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-18257851_ITM

External links[]

• WingHouse official website