Business Culture in South Bruce Continues to Grow with The Wing House

Owner of the Mildmay Wing House, Shan Kumar says the main street eatery is a unique dining experience for families and friends alike. The Wing House is a restaurant and bar adorned with sports memorabilia and is located in the heart of downtown Mildmay at 96 Elora St., the former home of Sandy’s Family Restaurant.

Kumar says that Mildmay was an ideal choice for the restaurant because of how tight-knit the community is. The restaurant offers a different style of cuisine that, wasn’t previously focused on in the area.

The location was vacant for over a year and a half prior to The Wing House entering the building, according to Kumar.

Kumar describes a welcoming and fun environment as key to his vision for the restaurant. He notes that seeing customers discuss experiences of trying a new wing flavour from the over 150 available options and parents regaling their children about sports legends of old, inspired by the sports paraphernalia on the wall, as particularly rewarding.

“You can kind of come in and be comfortable and be yourself,” said Manager Liz Price. “There’s a reason we have a ton of repeat customers. I find that there are a lot of connections that are made. We have a lot of regulars for that reason.”

Kumar and Price discuss how The Wing House fit seamlessly into the culture of South Bruce. They credit promotions running during sporting events, a discount for first responders, and a straightforward, open approach to the customer experience as examples of the small-town culture in their business.

Kumar says that operating a business in a small town is a new and welcome experience.

“I did customer service for 24 years, I was worried [to start a business in] a small town, [but] people are more friendly, more open, nice people,” said Kumar. “If you walk on the street at least a couple of people will say hi, in the cities it’s totally different.”

Aside from offering unique dining experiences in South Bruce, The Wing House also provides the community with employment opportunities. Price describes the importance of having scheduling flexibility to accommodate the demanding timetables of students and hiring local as integral components to developing a staff that promotes their carefully crafted small-town culture.

In 2019 Statistics Canada determined that 22% of Canadians worked their first job in the restaurant industry and 6.4% of all employment in Canada is in the accommodation and food services sector.

Research completed by consulting firm metroeconomics predicts that South Bruce will experience an increase of 380 jobs, without considering major projects, by 2046.

Using Statistics Canada employment figures with metroeconomics employment growth prediction, South Bruce residents could see approximately 24 new employment opportunities in service industry-focused businesses such as The Wing House by 2046.

Growth of different hospitality options in the downtown areas such as The Wing House exemplifies progress in municipal goals for village revitalization as defined in the Municipality of South Bruce Economic Development Strategy Update. The full economic development strategy is available on the municipal website at www.southbruce.ca/ecdevstrategy.

Price and Kumar mention looking towards expanding to lunch hours in the future and encourage spicy food lovers to challenge The Wing House specialty ‘Knockout’ wings.

For more information, visit The Wing House online at winghouse.ca.

This article is part of an ongoing Community Revitalization series initiated by the Municipality of South Bruce