The Mother Plucker’s Ramblings

Once upon a time, we were just starving students at the University of Texas looking to find some good wings in Austin. As luck would have it, a great wing joint didn’t exist so we decided to create our own. We have always believed in the business theories of keeping things as simple as possible and making decisions with our gut rather than what everyone else in the restaurant world was doing. So when we opened The Original Pluckers on 23rd and Rio Grande we were catering to students…and what do students want? Good food for a cheap price. Along with this theory we created daily specials that in part have helped build us from one 1300-square foot restaurant into a nicely growing little company.

One of the specials we have been known for over the years is our Tuesday discounted wings special. Well, at first we sold them for a quarter a piece, then 30-cents, 40 cents and finally 50 cents. It’s not that we have ever wanted to raise our prices to make more money because we are more than content making a little profit and keeping our guests happy. When we first opened Pluckers wing prices were about 40-cents a pound so we could afford to offer wings for 25-cents each on Tuesday’s as a treat for our loyal guests. However, over the past 12 years wing prices have risen to over $1.50 a pound on average.

One thing we have never been willing to compromise was the quality and size of our chicken wings and we will always stick to that. At the same time it’s become impossible for us to continue with our Tuesday wing special any longer. The reality is that it has been costing us money because of the size of wings we serve. Therefore, we are unfortunately forced to discontinue this special. Don’t forget that on Tuesday’s Kids Eat Free so for those of you with families, eating at Pluckers on Tuesday’s is still a great deal.

Because we didn’t want to take something away without giving something back, we are adding a Premium Well to our bar. That means you can have Tito’s, Bacardi, Dewar’s, Jose Cuervo and Bombay for just $3.00 any time, any day! As an extra bonus we have decided to offer Crown Royal and Grey Goose for just $4.00 every day as well. Also, don’t forget about our $3.50 special on Jagermeister and $4.00 on Patron and Don Julio. So while we know you are sorry to see one special leave, we hope you raise your glass to our devotion to always giving back to our guests!

We usually try and plan something fun for you every month or so, but on Saturday April 26th, we’ve got two great events planned for you.  At the Research store, we are hosting our 5th annual NFL Draft party.  Throughout the entire first round, every time an NFL team is on the clock, we offer a great Pluckers special.  When the team makes its pick, a new team goes on the clock and a new Pluckers special will be available.  So that means you can take advantage of the special as long as the team is on the clock, but after that, its gone!  Specials include things like 40-cent wings, $1.00 beers, cheap Pluckers Club memberships and more.  So join us from 11am until whenever the first round ends for a fun and cheap day.

At South Lamar, we are hosting our first ever Crawfishpalooza!  Now I am sure you are saying…what the hell is Crawfishpalooza?  Well, we are throwing an all day party in our parking lot featuring a crawfish boil, live music all day and plenty of cold beer.  Mark and Sean grew up in Louisiana cooking up mudbugs and it will be their recipe we’ll  be enjoying all day long.  So come on out and enjoy what hopefully will be a beautiful Spring Day at South Lamar (who are we kidding, it rains at every Pluckers event)!

If you have ever visited Killeen, Texas then you probably can figure out a few things about it pretty quickly.  First, the people who live there are just honest, down-home people that for the most part are either working on or with Fort Hood.  These are the kind of people who protect our country every day and probably don’t get thanked near often enough.  Another thing you will notice is that there isn’t nearly enough entertainment for the 50,000 soldiers living there.  Sure there are a few fun bars to hang out at, but there isn’t a legitimate sports bar in town to watch the games at.  So as patriotic Americans, we thought someone needed to do something about it.  So Killeen, here we come!

The newest Pluckers should be opening sometime in May and will be our largest store to date.  We’ve taken over the old Asian Coast space on Hwy 190 and are turning it into our baddest store yet.  Not only do we have 9,000 square feet inside to play with, we’re adding an outdoor deck and washer pit to go with it.  Inside you’ll find a huge bar that will be able to seat 50 or more people, pool tables, foosball, darts, pop-a-shot machines and our first permanent stage so we can host bands, open mic night, karaoke, Rock Band tournaments and anything else you can do on a stage.  Oh yeah, we have a few plasmas also….I think the count is at 60 right now along with a few HD big screens to boot.  So Killeen, I don’t know if you are ready for us, but we can’t wait to see you in May!

For the over 1,000 people that attended on Guitar Hero contest last may at South Lamar, you know how much fun February 15th is going to be at the Research location.  For those who didn’t attend or qualify to play, here’s your chance.  We are going to be turning the dining room and bar into Austin’s wildest video game contest.  So many of you are asking, “What is Rock Band?”  If you are asking that question, you are:

a)  Too old to still play video games

b)  Not hip

c)  Someone who is 35 years old ike me that thinks they are not too old to play video games

 For the uninitiated, Rock Band is the latest video game for XBox and PS3 that combines the best of Guitar Hero along with drums and karaoke.  Honestly, this game is so good it is worth going out and paying $300 for a console and $200 for the game.  If you love music, but have never learned to play an instrument, this game is for you. 

So our little contest will involve 20 teams qualifying via You Tube submissions to us showing us what their performance will look like when they hit the stage.  We’ll be posting the best of these videos right here at pluckers.net and based on the Guitar Hero videos we received last time, it is worth coming back to our website a few times over the next few weeks to check them out.  If you want more information, contact Marketing Guru Kristin Wollman at kwollman@pluckers.net.

This is a common question we get from our loyal fans.  People always want to know why if Pluckers is so successful why aren’t we “smart” enough to open stores all over Texas?  Or why don’t you franchise 100’s of Pluckers across the United States?  Well, it’s a dilemna that we discuss every day in the Hen House (also known as Pluckers offices).  On the one hand, we have people calling us all the time asking to buy franchises or big money guys that want to help “blow up” Pluckers by infusing a lot of capital into our little concept.  On the other hand, there are a few things that are more important to us that opening up stores everywhere.  Here are some of the reasons Pluckers hasn’t yet achieved global domination: 

1.     We like our lives and careers – It’s funny how many people out there hate their jobs including a lot of our friends.  We are lucky enough to wake up every day and actually have fun at work. Who wouldn’t have fun running a Rock, Paper, Scissors contest or planning an annual Vegas trip for our Mother Pluckers (what we call our general managers)? 

2.     Ever read the story of the Tortoise and the Hare?  Well, we are big fans of the old adage “slow and steady wins the race”.  Luckily, we’ve always been successful enough to be able to learn from our mistakes over the years.  One of the main reasons we are still around today is that we didn’t try to open so many stores that each mistake would be magnified and even more difficult to fix.  Remember too, we are all 35 years or younger so we’ve still got time to open more Pluckers.  Come to think of it, we’ll be in Georgetown, Killeen and hopefully another store in SE Austin sooner than you think. 

3.    We actually care about our guests.  Now I know that everyone says the same thing from Burger King to Subway, guests are the #1 priority.  But we like to think that we spend extra time training our team to make sure that every experience you have with us is memorable.  Sure, we aren’t perfect, but if you ever have a problem at Pluckers, just ask for a manager and we promise you’ll be impressed by their dedication to making sure you leave happier than before you came.  Plus, we love planning the fun events at Pluckers that make sure we aren’t your typical wing place.

4.    We love our employees – as we get bigger, it’s getting harder and harder to know all of our employees.  Unfortunately, that is one of the inevitable challenges of growing a company.  However, we are always trying to make sure that Pluckers is not just a lucrative, but a fun place to work.  We plan quarterly parties for the staff like Pluckers Field Day, a legendary Christmas Party and employee auctions where we give away things like trips to Vegas and plasma tv’s.  We want to always keep that small company feel no matter how big we get and keeping our growth slow allows us to focus on the people that make your meals great and help us grow.

Hopefully that explains some of the reasoning why Pluckers isn’t in more places yet.  If you are one of the people who emails us all the time asking when we are getting to Houston or San Antonio we ask you to be patient.  In the meantime, why don’t you get to Austin, Dallas or Baton Rouge and come say hello.