The new Smokey Bones restaurant opening in April in Avon, Ind., at 10143 East U.S. Highway 36, Avon IN 46123, will feature an updated design and will serve as a prototype for the casual dining brand’s future locations.
This will be the first brick-and-mortar restaurant for Smokey Bones to open since the pandemic and will be the second Indianapolis-area location and third in the state. It will be located next to the Avon Commons Shopping Center and will open from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., serving a full menu until closing.
The restaurant will kick off the grand opening on Wednesday, April 6, with a celebratory ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4:45 p.m. hosted by the Avon Chamber of Commerce. Smokey Bones will open to the public at 5 p.m. and have music, prizes, and a special guest appearance!
The Avon location is a complete remodel of an existing building and will be 5,800 square feet with a strong focus on a separate to-go order pick-up station. The restaurant is designed to create a more intimate dining experience, while the to-go vestibule will include a dedicated entrance, separate menu board, POS, a dedicated waiting area with seating, as well as to-go parking directly outside the door.
“This restaurant has been designed to meet today’s guest preferences, which is a comfortable dining experience when eating in, and an easy, convenient and fast pickup area when dining away,” says James O’Reilly, CEO. “We want to make Smokey Bones available anytime, anywhere, and the bar and dining room area, and dedicated to-go lobby, deliver both to our guests.”
The new location will also include an outdoor patio area with TVs, speakers and a fire pit for a comfortable outdoor dining experience. Inside, the restaurant will seat approximately 160 guests in the dining room and will feature Smokey Bones’ famous sweeping central bar with large garage-type doors that open to the patio, making it easy for guests to move back and forth between the two spaces.
The interior design will include artwork that reflects Smokey Bones’ passion for smoking and grilling the most delicious, juiciest meats available, and its dedication to the customers who love to eat it.
“Smokey Bones offers more types of meat prepared in more ways, than other restaurants in Avon. We look forward to bringing our ‘protein candy store’ to the area,” says James O’Reilly, CEO. “Once complete, the restaurant will seem like it’s been built from the ground up for that market, with our sleek new design that also includes an efficient and comfortable to-go area.”
The back-of-the-house is also being redesigned to accommodate Smokey Bones’ two virtual brands, The Wing Experience and Burger Experience, as well as have space for future virtual restaurant concepts being developed as part of Smokey Bones’ portfolio. The virtual brands will be available for delivery or pick-up in Avon beginning a few weeks after opening.
“We have made significant technology investments in pursuit of our ‘anywhere, anytime’ technology vision, which will put the guest fully in digital control of their experience, whether it is on or off-premise,” says Hal Lawlor, COO Smokey Bones. “We have redesigned our restaurants with smaller dining rooms, more technology, and dedicated off-premise access for our guests. We have also refocused our menu, discontinuing many items as we have repositioned away from being a ‘generalist’ casual dining competitor to our focused ‘protein candy store’ in support of our ‘Meat is What We Do’ vision. This increased focus has allowed us to better meet the needs of America’s meat lovers, while raising our quality and culinary standards in the process.”
Smokey Bones thrived the last year and a half due to its foresight and investment in off-premise dining prior to the pandemic as well as its transformation of its digital operations, with a complete technology overhaul updating its hardware and software, security, third party delivery integration, and e-commerce platform where customers order from and get delivery from Smokey Bones’ or the virtual brands’ website.
Smokey Bones is available for dine-in and online ordering for curbside pick-up or direct delivery from its restaurants.
News and information presented in this release has not been corroborated by WTWH Media LLC.
