A taste of Louisiana from gator to crawfish etoufee. New spot opens in Warner Robins
Founder Brandon Landry was on hand Monday for the grand opening of the new Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux in Warner Robins — also the first Walk-On’s in Georgia as well as the 73rd in now 15 states.
Three more of these Louisiana-inspired sports restaurants are expected to open by the end of the year, with nearly 150 more in the works — including multiple Georgia locations such as Macon and Valdosta, Landry said.
The new Warner Robins location at 1070 Ga. 96 is next to Rigby’s Water World/Rigby’s Entertainment Complex.
“We’re growing but we’re growing at our own pace,” said Landry, who is also the CEO and co-owner of Walk-On’s. “We’re very selective on our franchise partners like the Rigbys here in Warner Robins.
“It’s not about, oh, you have to have all this restaurant experience and have to be this unbelievable operator because we have the format now. We have the template. But what we can’t make is great people and great character. So, to have a family like this that’s interested in us and wants to bring something to their hometown, we’ll show them X’s and O’s of how to make a Walk-On’s successful.”
Landry and Jack Warner, who were walk-ons for the Louisiana State University basketball team, opened their first Walk-On’s Sept. 2, 2003 near the LSU Tiger Stadium. Warner sold out of the company in 2014, and NFL All-Pro Quarterback Drew Brees joined the Walk-On’s team as a co-owner and partner in 2015.
A taste of Louisiana
Walk-On’s are known most for their made-from-scratch Cajun cuisine.
“About 30% of our menu is seafood and Louisiana classics that you typically wouldn’t see in a sports restaurant,” Landry said.
That includes Louisiana mainstays like crawfish etoufee, duck and andouille gumbo and their specialty doughnut bread pudding made with Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
“In the seafood category, probably our top seller is our catfish atchafalaya,” Landry said. “It’s fried or blackened catfish topped with crawfish etoufee topped with rice.”
Franchise owner Steve Rigby, who owns Rigby’s Water World/Rigby’s Entertainment Complex, said he heard about Walk-On’s from a friend who’d just returned from Lake Charles, Louisiana.
“There’s a place called Walk-On’s, you gotta check out,” the friend advised Rigby
Rigby did — visiting 25 Walk-On’s locations before signing on the dotted line.
What appealed to Rigby most was the food with “a little Cajun flair” to it.
“And then on top of that, it’s a sports bar,” said Rigby, who also owns the Walk-On’s franchise rights for Macon and Valdosta. “It just has a lot of variety. It’s not your regular bar food at all.”
As part of a pre-opening, invitation-only Friends and Family event over three days prior to Monday’s grand opening, the new Walk-On’s served about 2,000 people, Rigby said.
“It was great training for the staff,” he said.
Grand opening
At the grand opening, the 7,000-square-foot sports restaurant was packed but able to accommodate its customers with over 200 seats inside and a more than ample staff.
A covered patio with warmers for winter that double as air conditioners in the summer adds another 50 seats.
“It’s been so smooth,” Rigby said. “We have about the best staff in town. The food is coming out beautiful.”
Christy and Brandon Adams of Perry said they enjoyed the Mardi Gras mahi and the Louisiana combo.
“It was really good,” she said.
The couple also ordered alligator off the starters section of the menu, giving the appetizer a two thumbs up.
Described on the menu as farm raised white tail meat that is hand battered and fried, this appetizer is also one of Landry’s favorites.
Landry also recommended the waffle cheese fries — waffle fries topped with jack cheese, cheddar cheese, bacon and banana peppers.
“Our fresh Gulf seafood is tough to beat,” Landry said.
He also gave a shout out to the restaurant’s ribeye po’boy, described on the menu as sliced blackened ribeye, Swiss cheese, caramelized onions, garlic aioli and dijon horseradish
“We cut our ribeyes in house, and so, that’s the trimmings that we use from cutting the ribeye to make it a sandwich,” Landry said. “We did that at first because we didn’t want to throw away the trimmings.
“So, we said, let’s make a sandwich out of it, and now the sandwich outsells the ribeye.”
The backstory
When talking with Landry, he shared a cocktail napkin that has a sketch similar to the first restaurant plans imprinted on it. There’s a story behind it.
Walk-On’s was a class project for Landry and Warner. They got a “C.” They’d first etched the restaurant floor plan on a cocktail napkin while flying back with the LSU team from a game in Tennessee.
“On our original drawing we forgot to draw the kitchen,” said Landry, pointing to design on the cocktail napkin. “We laugh about it.”
With dogged determination, they perfected their plan and after several tries, found a bank willing to back them to build the first Walk-On’s within a three-minute walk of Tiger stadium.
Landry said a walk-on mentality is a cornerstone of his restaurant template.
“I was the 12th guy sitting on the bench, so I knew I wasn’t going to play against Kentucky,” Landry said. “But I also knew that I was an integral part of the team’s success. So, that’s really the way we live our life inside of the Walk-On’s world.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s your first day as the dishwasher or you’re the general manager, you’re an integral part of the team and you can contribute to the success of our company … We give our kids a path. Whether you’re coming here just for a job to make it through college or you’re looking to make a career, I think you find a family and you see an opportunity to grow with our company.”
Live to eat
Walk-On’s is not your typical sports bar, Landry said.
“We’re born in South Louisiana,” he said. “You don’t eat to live there. You live to eat. So, everything is kinda what’s for dinner. The party is around what’s for dinner.
“So, you can see our menu, about 65 or 70 items are not typical in a sports bar. Of course, we’ve got burgers and beers and wings and things like that on an elevated level.”
Those burgers are 75/25 ground chuck, hand-pattied and cooked to order on a flaming hot griddle, he said.
“Everything is just done with quality,” Landry said. “That’s why I mention the original napkin. It didn’t have a kitchen and now it’s a little bit different.”
Everything is made fresh and from scratch except for one thing.
“The only thing freezer-to-fryer is the fries,” Landry said.
The sports restaurant is also family friendly, he said.
“It’s a family friendly type of place that has a great atmosphere as well. You can have 80 TVs and watch a game with 50 beers on tap.”
Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The sports restaurant is closed on holidays. The number is 478-287-2069.
