MEMBER NEWS
8
2016 Issue 4 | THE SCORE
MEMBER NEWS
Derby Wings Management Partners with Louisville Radio Station to Collect Over 2,000 Bikes for Toys for Tots
From Nov . 17-21 , the city of Louisville , Kentucky , came together to help out Toys for Tots , and Buffalo Wild Wings ® wasn ’ t going to miss out on the fun . A local radio station , Q103.1 , partnered with Sullivan University on the inaugural Bikes or Bust , which donates new bikes to Toys for Tots .
Radio personality Dingo agreed to spend over four consecutive days on a scissor lift parked in a Buffalo Wild Wings parking lot , and the Derby Wings Management location agreed to be the official location sponsor . The event encouraged anyone and everyone to visit the BWW ® location to drop off a donation , and Dingo greeted those who stopped by from 40 feet in the air .
Dingo was outfitted with a tent and other necessities and would update the community on the event via videos posted to social media .
“ I actually approached the radio station , ironically , for another restaurant ,” said franchisee Eric Titus . “ I had told them I was looking for some kind of traffic-driving promotion , and they had come to me with several different things that I just didn ’ t like and didn ’ t think would work . Then they brought this up , and from the community connectivity aspect , I liked it and thought there could be some traffic-driving elements to it .”
The B-Dubs ® location at 10206 Westport Road provided roughly 13 spaces to the radio station where they could park the scissor lift and collect bikes . The company originally planned to only use half of the space but ended up using it all .
“ The majority of our parking is in back , plus we have an easement with the shopping center that ’ s next to us , so there really is a lot of parking ,” said Titus . “ It didn ’ t hurt us that much , but we ended up taking up more space than we originally planned , mainly because of the amount of bikes that were donated .”
An amount that far exceeded the original goal . When the event was first created , a goal was set to donate 41 bikes to Toys for Tots because that was the projected need from the organization .
“ We realized quickly , however , that there was a lot of people out there that wanted to donate bikes , so we adjusted our goal to 700 ,” said Titus .
One of those people wanting to provide for the cause was country music icon Garth Brooks , who called into the radio station on the second day of the event and said he would donate 10 bikes for every hour Dingo stayed in the lift . For the 103 hours Dingo spent hoisted in the air , Brooks donated 1,030 bikes to the program . “ I was shocked , I was elated , and then I started realizing that what we were doing was bigger than we originally thought ,” said Titus . “ With Garth getting involved , all of a sudden there was a national element to it , which was really exciting .”
Titus notes that Brooks was on tour and had an upcoming show in Cincinnati , which is about one and a half hours away from Louisville .
“ He appeared on their radio station to talk about his show , and through that process , he heard about what we were doing ,” said Titus . “ Obviously it must have struck a chord with him
The inaugural Bikes or Bust event collected over 2,000 bikes . The initial goal prior to the event starting was 41 .
Radio station Q103.1 sponsored Bikes or Bust , an event to collect bikes for Toys for Tots , in which radio personality Dingo stayed on a scissor lift for four days .
Bikes or Bust collected new bikes for Toys for Tots , which is a program cultivated by the U . S . Marine Corps .
because he came out and said he wanted to get involved .” With the substantial donation from Brooks , the team once again readjusted their goal – this time to 2,000 bikes .
“ The generosity of our guests was really striking ,” added Titus . “ The bikes in the front were causing quite a stir in the community . So many people were driving by just to look at it , and then they would stop and ask us what was going on . It was really moving to see how much the community appreciated what we were doing .”
B-Dubs customers also showed the same sentiment with many stating that they didn ’ t have time to go buy a bike but donated money nonetheless .
“ The thing that really struck me the most was that I had person after person thanking me and just coming up and saying how wonderful they thought what we were doing was ,” said Titus .
At the end of the 103 hours , the event had surpassed its goal of 2,000 bikes , and Buffalo Wild Wings saw an increase in