Bloomington favorite BuffaLouie’s, located on Indiana Avenue, announced its expansion to Carmel in a Facebook post Aug. 2.
“We are spreading our wings!” the Facebook post annoucing the expansion said.
The restaurant, named one of USA Today’s top 10 wing joints, will be located at 43 W. St., the former home of South Bend Chocolate Co.
The Carmel owners include former IU basketball player Yogi Ferrell and a former IU student and employee at Buffalouie’s. The general manager of the new location is currently training at the Bloomington location.
“I spent a lot of time in Carmel in the last 90 days and that is the perfect community,” Ed Schwartzman, owner of BuffaLouie’s at the Gables and Gable’s Bagels, said. “I am so excited for the potential there and I don’t think we could have picked a better location.”
According to BuffaLouie’s website, Indiana University student Jay Lieser opened BuffaLouie’s in 1987 with his grandfather Louie Lieser. In 2010, Ed and Jamie Schwartzman took over the business.
Since 2010, Schwartzman said he has been courted many times to open a second location in towns such as Evansville, Terre Haute and Nashville. He said the issue is that he and his wife cannot be the ones to run a second location.
“We need owners just like we’re the owners, with the same stake in the community that we have,” Schwartzman said.
Schwartzman said the menu will be exactly the same at the new location, but layout and other details like decorations are not yet finalized.
“There will IU memorabilia for sure. There might be a little Butler, there might be a little – heaven forbid – Purdue, but it will be predominantly IU for sure,” Schwartzman said.
The new location is expected to open before the end of this year.
