Months after Hooters closes in South Lakeland, WingHouse follows suit

Gone are the truck shows featuring lifted and extended pickups, waitresses dressed in tight pants, skimpy tops and bunny ears, as well as fight nights on the wall-to-wall big screen TVs.

The Lakeland WingHouse Bar and Grill on South Florida Avenue has closed, just a few months after the South Lakeland Hooters also abruptly closed on a Sunday in June.

But while South Lakeland has lost two of the main competitors in the dining industry's "Breastaurant" segment, North Lakeland has doubled down.

Twin Peaks , a competitor to WingHouse and Hooters, opened Sept. 16 at 3901 U.S. 98 N. in the Shoppes of Lakeland, just a half-mile north of Lakeland's remaining Hooters restaurant.

No one answered the phone at the WingHouse on Thursday, and its parent company ARC Group Inc. could not be reached for comment. State records show Yannick Bastien is in charge of ARC WingHouse LLC.

The Google listing for the eatery says the WingHouse at 4515 S. Florida Ave. is permanently closed. And Google reviews by its customers were less than complimentary in recent times, citing poor service and plumbing leaks in the men's room. The restaurant was temporarily closed by inspectors four times in 2022 and 2023 for insect issues and received another warning in June.

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But it remains unclear why the Lakeland location in the Alamo Plaza closed.

WingHouse's growth and eventual sale

About five years ago, a news release about ARC Group Inc’s acquisition of WingHouse gave a positive impression of the organization behind the casual sports-themed restaurant while touting its storied history.

“WingHouse Bar & Grill first opened its doors over 25 years ago in Largo, Florida, where the concept to blend the spirit and camaraderie of sports with the casual atmosphere of a full-service restaurant was brought to life by NFL alum, Crawford Ker,” a 2019 release said.

The release said WingHouse had grown to 24 locations across Florida by 2018.

ARC Group Inc., which was based in Jacksonville but may have moved, also owns, operates and franchises Dick's Wings, Tilted Kilt and Fat Patty’s, the ARC website said.

A media report in 2019 said ARC had paid $18 million to buy the WingHouse Bar & Grill restaurant concept from Tampa-based Soaring Wings LLC.

If ARC Group was thinking of converting the WingHouse to a Tilted Kilt, a check with Lakeland's building department could not confirm this, as no building permits have been issued for the address in Alamo Plaza. A phone call message left with the plaza's management company was not immediately returned.

Still on Thursday, the WingHouse website remained upbeat, saying, "Our restaurants are known for their fan-friendly atmosphere where people go to watch the big game, socialize with friends – AND the World Famous WingHouse Girls who serve them. With un-matched levels of attentive hospitality and contagious energy, they are more than servers, the WingHouse Girls are an extension of the party and our biggest brand ambassadors."

The restaurants doing well vs. the ones that aren't

The new Twin Peaks location in North Lakeland boasts 50 big-screen TVs and 29-degree beer.

A report in May noted Twin Peaks had opened three new restaurants in the first quarter of 2024 and had six more under construction, including the one that opened in Lakeland on Sept. 16. The same month, its corporate parent, FAT Brands, also confidentially filed to take the Twin Peaks brand public this year.

It stood at 115 restaurants as of May.

According to professor Kevin S. Murphy at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida, there are several factors contributing to the closures of older brands in this restaurant market segment.

He called Hooters and WingHouse “aging brands," founded in Florida in 1983 and 1994, respectively.

"Twin Peaks was founded in 2004,” he said. “It is common for older brands to close underperforming stores because of changing market conditions.

"In the macro environment restaurants operate in today, the conditions over the past four years with 20% inflation has caused labor cost to shoot up, food costs to shoot up, beverage cost to rise up, and rising rents,” Murphy said.

“All this has placed much greater operational pressure on individual units and squeezed profit margins," he said. "This has accelerated the rate of closure for underperforming stores. You can see this with Red Lobster, which closed hundreds of stores that were underperforming. Although Red Lobster has a whole other set of circumstances that factor into play."

Red Lobster, founded in Lakeland in 1968, grew to be the largest seafood chain in the world with more than 700 restaurants. After a bankruptcy filing and sale this year, the chain will continue with about 540 restaurants. The locations in Lakeland and Winter Haven survived the wave of closings.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Months after Hooters closes in South Lakeland, WingHouse follows suit