1. Wings and Beer? Where
are we Going?
By Eric Brinkley

2. The Plan
• I decided to do my ethnography on a
comparison between two wing restaurants:
Buffalo Wild Wings and Wild Wing Café.
vs.

3. Reasons
• The main reason I chose to do a comparison on
these two restaurants is because my friends and I
always argue as to what restaurant we want to go
to for a sports game.
• Our Favorite restaurants are Buffalo Wild Wings
and Wild Wing Café.
• My Favorite thing to do when not attending a
sporting event that I want to see is watch it while
drinking beer and eating wings at a restaurant.

4. Goal
• The Main Goal of
this ethnography
visitsouth.com
was to decide which Picture of a Wild Wing Cafe
restaurant was
better for each day
of the week to
watch a sporting
event. Rainydaydiscounts.com
Picture of a Buffalo Wild Wings

5. How I Chose My Sites
• Buffalo Wild Wings and Wild Wing Café have
multiple sites in the region of Columbia to chose
from.
• I chose the two closest restaurants to my house
which were the Wild Wing Café in the Vista and
The Buffalo Wild Wings off of Garners Ferry Rd.
• It also made since to chose these restaurants,
because they are both in the urban part of
Columbia, so they are more comparable.

6. Methods to My Madness
• I chose a multitude of variables to measure and
observe while I was in each of the restaurants.
• These variables were chosen for the purpose of
achieving my goal.
• Each variable was graded on a scale of one to ten
Savannahgetaways.net
scottrobertsweb.com

7. Methods Continued
• The Variables Included were: Average age,
average group size, cleanliness, number of menu
items, number of beers (draft and bottle),
number of non-alcoholic drinks, taste of beer,
taste of food, atmosphere, number of employees,
number of TVs, price of beers, food presentation,
happiness of customers, happiness of employees,
amount of time waiting on food, promotions,
extent of employee training, average age of
employees, and number of wing flavors.

8. How I Fit in and Limitations
How I Fit in Limitations
When I entered each of the There were certain
restaurants I decided that I variables that I was not
would go in as a customer. able to record, which
The variables I chose to would have enhanced the
observe/measure were accuracy of my research.
easily attained simply by They included seeing the
being a customer. Being a Kitchens of the restaurant,
customer may have caused Talking with management,
me to be treated Amount of beers tasted,
differently, as apposed to amount of food tasted,
someone doing research Time available to research
on a restaurant etc. the restaurants, and
money.

9. Buffalo Wild Wings Environment
As soon as I walked into the
door of the restaurant My jaw
dropped open. The number of
TVs in this restaurant is almost
overkill (keyword: almost). The
amount of things to do and
watch can keep you busy in this
restaurant for hours on end.
Everyone in the restaurant
seemed to be enjoying Elmomonster.blogspot.com
themselves for the most part.
The employees were pleasing
and prompt.

10. Variable Ratings
Variables Amount/Rating Variables Cont. Rating
Average Customer Age 23/9 Cleanliness 9.5
Average Group Size 4/(N/A) Taste of beer 10
Number of Menu Items 73/9.5 Taste of food 10
Number of Beers 45/9.5 Atmosphere 10
Number of Drinks 15/8 Price of Beers 9.5
Number of TVs 35/10 Happiness of Customers 9.5
Time Waiting of Food 20/9 Happiness of Employees 9
Average Employee Age 22/9 Promotions 8.5
Number of Wing Flavors 20/8.5 Employee Training 9.5
Number of Employees 20/9 Food Presentation 7.5
Variables in the left column had a number to answer the question as well as a rating, while
variables on the right only had a rating, because a number value was not needed.

11. Analysis on Important Variables
The most important variables were the number
of beers, number of TVs, taste of beer, taste of
food, atmosphere, and price of beers. There
was a large selection of beers and every beer I
tasted was tasted very good. The number of
TVs was ridiculous and stood out most in the
restaurant. The atmosphere was very nice
largely due to the number of TVs. The wings
that I had were delicious and the price of the
beers were relatively cheap.

12. Alternate Observations
There was one thing that I observed in this
restaurant that was not part of the variables that
I predetermined. I noticed that there were certain
TVs designated for Trivia. These you could answer
the questions on the TV by asking your server or
bartender to give you a remote control. There
were local, regional, and national scoreboard
rankings. Not all questions were sports based, so
if someone didn’t care much for sports, they
could just play trivia on the TV. I think that trivia
made this restaurant enjoyable for all types of
people.

13. BWW Overall Experience
The Buffalo Wild Wings experience was great.
Almost all of the variables that I measured and
Observed received high marks except for the
service which still had a pretty high mark. The 35
televisions in the restaurant was spectacular, and
it was impossible to not find the game you were
trying to watch. The Wings were delicious and
had plenty of sauce on them. The beers were at a
great price and the glasses made the beer taste
better than normal.

14. Wild Wing Café Environment
• When I walked into Wild
Wing Café I was immediately
greeted and noticed music
playing. There was a large
amount of sports
paraphernalia all over the
walls. The restaurant was
very busy and somewhat
loud due to all of the talking.
The Server that I had took
care of my friends and I very
well. There were about 20 Classiccitybrew.com
TVs in the restaurant.

15. Variable Ratings
Variables Amount/Rating Variables Cont. Rating
Average Customer Age 22/9 Cleanliness 9
Average Group Size 4.5/(N/A) Taste of beer 9.5
Number of Menu Items 78/10 Taste of food 8.5
Number of Beers 40/9 Atmosphere 9.5
Number of Drinks 18/8.5 Price of Beers 9.5
Number of TVs 20/8.5 Happiness of Customers 9.5
Time Waiting of Food 10/10 Happiness of Employees 9
Average Employee Age 22/9 Promotions 10
Number of Wing Flavors 35/9.5 Employee Training 9
Number of Employees 20/9 Food Presentation 9
Variables in the left column had a number to answer the question as well as a rating, while
variables on the right only had a rating, because a number value was not needed.

16. Analysis on Important Variables
The most important variables were the number of
beers, number of TVs, taste of beer, taste of food,
atmosphere, and price of beers. Some of the
beers that we had were warm, because the pint
glasses had just come out of the dishwasher. The
number of TVs was average, with most of the TVs
being about 37 inches. The atmosphere was very
cool, due to the music and all of the sports
paraphernalia at the restaurant. The wings that I
had did not have much flavor due to the lack of
sauce on them. The beers were cheap compared
to other restaurants.

17. Promotions
Wild Wing Café had a promotion for every day
of the week and most of them were
appealing. The promotions consisted of:
Day of Week Promotion
Monday Trivia Night
Tuesday 2 dollar draft night; Buy 12 wings get 12 free with Student ID
Wednesday 2 dollar tacos and 3 dollar margaritas
Thursday 2 dollar vodka drinks and Coaches Call in Show
Friday Live Music; 3 dollar Firefly Sweetea Vodka
Weekend 3.25 Bud light stadium cups; 13 dollar bud light buckets

18. WWC Overall Experience
• The Wild Wing Café experience
was very pleasurable. Almost
every variable that I recorded
received high marks except for the
taste of food. The sports
paraphernalia on the walls and
music playing made the
environment very relaxing. The
service was excellent and are food
was promptly brought to my table.
The hot beer glasses put brought
my friends and I down a little bit,
but overall we enjoyed our visit.

19. Final Comparison
Buffalo Wild Wings Wild Wing Café
Wing Taste Winner Loser
Beer Taste Winner Loser
Beer Cheapness (overall) Tie Tie
Number of TVs Winner Loser
Overall Service Loser Winner
Overall Atmosphere Tie Tie
Tuesday Special Loser Winner
Any other day Winner Loser
Overall Winner Loser