By Bianca Fortis
Business is heating up for the newest Buffalo Wild Wings in New York City.
The family restaurant and sports bar opened July 15 at the old Forest Hills Theatre, at 107-16 71st Ave., and has been busy since.
“The community has received us very well,” said James Bitzonis, president of Four M Capital LLC, the company franchising the eatery. “We’re excited about it. We think we’re in a great location.”
With more than 900 locations in the United States, the chain restaurant is known for its Buffalo-style chicken wings, draft beers and multiple TV screens on which patrons can watch live sports games.
The Forest Hills location will employ 170 people and is the second in Queens. The first is inside John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The original movie theater opened in 1921 and operated until it was sold to a developer in 1998, according to cinematreasures.org. It later housed a Staples. There is still a Duane Reade on the first floor of the building.
Bitzonis said his company has tried to honor its new location.
They did not touch the original brick facade of the two-story building, and they plan to display vintage photographs showing the building as it was when it was a theater.
The new restaurant primarily occupies the second floor of the building and is about 10,000 square feet, while a typical Buffalo Wild Wings is about 6,000 to 7,000 square feet, Bitzonis said. It also has more than 80 TVs and two projectors. He described one that resembles a screen found in a movie theater.
“It’s great to watch a game on,” he said. “If you’re a sports fan, it’s going to be sports nirvana.”
The restaurant has an exclusive DirecTV package and offers just about every sports game, including European soccer, Bitzonis said.
That is important in a place “as culturally diverse as Queens,” he said. “We think we’ll have a lot of fans coming in for those soccer games.”
The restaurant will also show all Ultimate Fighting Championship games and will not charge a cover.
The White Plains-based Four M Capital is the Buffalo Wild Wings franchisee for New York and owns 13 of the restaurants in locations throughout Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Nassau County, Westchester County, Rockland County and Connecticut.
For information about watching sporting events at the Forest Hills location, call the restaurant at 718-544-9453.
Reach reporter Bianca Fortis by email at bfortis@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546.
