Buffalo Wild Wings Closed Today for Repairs After Sunday Fire

After an afternoon Sunday forced it to close its doors for the remainder of the day, workers with Buffalo Wild Wings, on Route 22, are hoping it will reopen Tuesday once repairs are complete.

Stephen Sullivan—president of the Antsul Group, which owns the franchise rights for the restaurant in Central Jersey—said the fire was caused by a cigarette butt being thrown in to mulch against the building by a guest either entering or leaving the building.

"It started a fire in the wall on the left side of the building," he said. "The fire alarm sounded, and the fire department responded and came to put out the fire."

Although there were no injuries in the incident and no extensive damage to the building, Sullivan said, there was a three-foot by eight-foot piece of wall on the left side of the building that was removed by the fire department.

"We were lucky because the damage does not seem to be very extensive," he said.

The construction team, Sullivan said, has been working since Sunday evening to begin fixing the damage, and is hoping to be able to reopen the restaurant Tuesday after it will remain closed today.

"When this happened, we evacuated the building immediately and closed until we receive proper approvals from the township," he said. "We are going to work extremely hard today to work with our construction team to fix that portion of the destroyed wall."

"And we will work with the township and fire department to make sure all is OK, and we are approved to open hopefully tomorrow," he added.

Sullivan said it was a very disappointing day for the restaurant Sunday, considering the cause of the fire.

"Any time something like this happens, it hurts business," he said. "We want the doors open, tvs on, wings cooking and beer flowing."