The bar, restaurant will be located in Barrington
BARRINGTON -- Wild Wings Cafe, a southern chicken wing chain, is set to roll out its first restaurant in New Jersey here early next month, promising "hot wings, cold beer and good times."
The new 7,000 square-foot space at 270 White Horse Pike will feature more than 40 TVs, a 34-seat bar, an enclosed patio, as well as eight garage doors to provide an open-air feel in the bar area. The menu will offer, hormone-free chicken wings, hand-breaded nuggets, Angus burgers and salads, and 33 made-from-scratch sauces.
The chain sprung from a single restaurant featuring the homemade wild wing recipes in Hilton Head, S.C. It operates 40 locations in eight states. The Barrington location is expected to employ 125 people, officials said.
Local officials said they actively recruited the chain.
"We were aggressively seeking an experienced restaurant group with the experience and financial wherewithal to do this. " said Kirk Popiolek, Barrington Borough Council president. "The last thing we wanted was to build something and not have it succeed."
N.J. remains a barbecue wasteland, but there's hope: 40 places you should try
Popiolek said the restaurant is part of the town's redevelopment of the White Horse Pike Corridor, a road that stretched from the suburbs of Philadelphia to the shore in Atlantic City. Barrington sold to developers for the project.
Wild Wings Cafe will get a payment in lieu of taxes agreement that will cover up to 90 percent of their taxes for 30 years, officials said.
Popiolek said the agreement helped attract a business that he hopes will spur revitalization in a key corridor.
"They're investing millions of dollars and they want reassurance they would be welcomed in the town," Popiolek said.
Barrington sits at a cross section of nearby towns and also Exit 29A of Interstate 295.
Live music will be played on Friday and Saturday nights at Wild Wings Cafe, welcoming various rock genres, and the bar will boast more than 30 local beers on draft from New Jersey and bordering states.
Bill Duhart may be reached at bduhart@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bduhart. Find NJ.com on Facebook.