By Doug Rainey
High 5 Hospitality has opened a new location for Buffalo Wild Wings near Delaware Park. Up next is a northern outpost for Sussex County’s Touch of Italy. The company relocated the Buffalo Wild Wings franchise to a site near the Delaware Park casino and
The company relocated the Buffalo Wild Wings franchise to a site near the Delaware Park casino and racetrack complex. The location comes with the latest design from BWW as well as a concentration of TVs for sporting events.
High 5 co-owner Bobby Pancake earlier this year confirmed that the BWW location will move to the new site, which is closer to major employment centers, such as JPMorgan Chase, Delaware Technical Community College, Sallie Mae and Christiana Hospital.
The site is adjacent to the Border Cafe, a popular Cajun, Tex-Mex restaurant near the intersection of Routes 4 and 7.
The BWW llocation was at 2062 Limestone Road near Kirkwood Highway. The restaurant is in a crowded strip center near a Wawa convenience store/gas station.
In the early 2000s, Pancake and partner Steve Wheat acquired a franchise territory for Buffalo Wild Wings that includes Delaware and a portion of Maryland in the early 2000s and opened their first BWW in Bear in 2004.
High 5 now has eight BWW franchises in the two states. The company is headquartered in Bear, DE.
In 2010, the High 5 owners won a national award from the Small Business Administration. In growing the business, the owners used SBA loans.
High 5 later diversified by acquiring the 16-Mile restaurant on Main Street in Newark and renaming the space the Stone Balloon Alehouse. Award-winning chef Robbie Jester stayed on and went on to greater fame by beating celebrity chef Bobby Flay on a Food Network show.
This year, Pancake began consulting work with Sussex County-based Touch of Italy, which operates five Italian food locations in Sussex County and nearby Ocean City, MD. The companies remain under separate ownership but share back-office functions such as accounting and employment recruitment.
Touch of Italy offers Italian restaurant fare, bakery items, and Italian salumeria (delicatessen( items. It also operates an online retail business. There was no immediate word on when Touch of Italy will open.
The sprawling area, sometimes known as Churchmans Crossing, earlier saw Florida-based Miller’s Ale House and Metro Diner.
Fast-growing Maryland chain The Greene Turtle earlier opened a restaurant at the former Chili’s location near the new BWW and Touch of Italy locations.