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CBC Hamilton - Anchor Bar set to expand across Ontario

The owners of Anchor Bar are expanding less than a month after the Hamilton opening of the first Canadian location of the restaurant touted as the home of the original buffalo wing.

Anchor Bar, a buffalo wing restaurant with two locations in Buffalo, launched its first Canadian location last month in Hamilton's Jackson Square. Now, co-owner David Copperthwaite says he and his business partner Gary Reed are already moving to expand to three more locations: Burlington, Toronto and Mississauga, although not necessarily in that order.

"It depends on which one comes through first," Copperthwaite says. "We've already got a couple of locations in mind. There are a few things we need to get sorted with landlords."

Copperthwaite and Reed were frequent customers of the Buffalo establishment that ships its wings across the United States. When they decided to bring the franchise to Canada, the acquired the sole rights to any Canadian locations.

According to Copperthwaite, they always intended to expand to other cities in Canada and they're not wasting any time.

The Hamilton restaurant opened its doors in January, with the official opening (including Mayor Bob Bratina tossing the first batch of wings into the fryer) Feb. 1. Since then, business has been going well, Coppethwaite said.

He and Reed settled on Hamilton for their Canadian debut after doing market research. The downtown development sold the pair on Hamilton as the first location of the famous wing joint north of the border.