Brandon Landry plans to take the Walk-On’s Bistreaux and Bar brand nationwide—but he doesn’t want to grow it too rapidly.
“We want to grow our concept throughout the country at a sustainable rate by picking the right partners to uphold the integrity of Walk-On’s,” Landry tells Business Report in its latest Executive Spotlight feature.
While Walk-On’s has its eyes on becoming a national brand, the restaurant—which has the backing of New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees—started as an idea on a napkin.
Landry and Walk-On’s co-founder Jack Warner were lowly walk-ons on the LSU basketball team when they were inspired to create a quality sports bar and restaurant. They were flying home from a game in Tennessee in 2001 when they got to talking about the lack of quality sports bars and restaurants in Baton Rouge.
The pair—knowing they weren’t destined for the NBA—scribbled their plan on a napkin, and later submitted it for a class project. Their professor gave them a C and said it needed some work.
After years of trial and error, they eventually opened Walk-On’s, and it quickly became a popular spot in Baton Rouge to grab a beer, get a bite to eat and watch the big game.
What neither Landry or Warner (who ended their business partnership in 2014) could have imagined, though, was just how popular the concept would be.
Since piloting a franchise program last year—after Brees bought into the company—Walk-On’s Bistreaux & Bar has expanded with nine locations across Louisiana and Texas, and as many as 10 additional locations are in the planning stages.
“As in any business, as you grow you have to make sure you scale your culture as well,” Landry says. “Sometimes that can be challenging, but it works if you have the right people.”
Read the full Executive Spotlight Q&A. Here’s a sample of what you will find:
How have you separated Walk-On’s from other competition in the industry?
Our food has been our biggest point of differentiation from our competition. Every location that we open now, the food is what is talked about the most for bringing them in. Typically in sports restaurants, food is not the focus. We changed that.
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