Wild Card Giveaway

If you've been a fan of Arooga's for a year or more, then you probably remember our Arooga's Cash promo that we usually do around this time of year.

We've changed things up a little bit this year. We're calling it the Wild Card Giveaway, packing them up in pretty red envelopes, and making the giveaway BIGGER with even more envelopes and an even BIGGER Grand Prize!

The grand prize this year? A trip to New Orleans & a $400 Arooga's gift card! Not too shabby huh?

The best part is, even if you don't win the grand prize, you're still a winner. Every card has a prize in it! Free growlers, free drinks, free bottles of sauce, money off your check, and lots more!

All you have to do is stop into any Arooga's location starting Monday, December 17th to get your envelope. But do it early, because they won't last long! We've added some more envelopes this year, but the supply is still very limited.

Remember though... DO NOT OPEN your envelope! You can bring it back into your local Arooga's in January or February, where an employee will open it, and you'll get the prize on your card! Don't worry about remembering all those details though because we've written them right on the envelope for you so don't forget.

GOOD LUCK!

Halloween recap

We know it's a bit late but we figured some people out there would like to see our Halloween slideshow. We really do have some INCREDIBLY creative and talented customers. Your costumes blow us away every year! So here's a slideshow of photos collected from a few of the stores... Enjoy!

How much can a person eat?

I've always been a fan of eating. How can you not be when you work for a restaurant with such awesome food? But recently I've become a fan of a whole new type of eating... competitive eating.

I've always enjoyed the Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island every year. They usually show it on ESPN, and the spectacle has always been entertaining to me. I gained a whole new appreciation for Major League Eating after our trip to Buffalo where we saw Joey Chestnut beat the Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas in the wing eating contest and earn the new world record. Seeing it in person and meeting some of the "athletes" really gave me a whole new appreciation for the sport. It really does take hard training (and lots of exercise!) to be able to compete at this level. One guy, Yasir Salem, is a triathlon athlete and is also ranked as the #22 competitive eater in the world. It's intense!

Here at Arooga's eating contests have always been a part of any celebration we do. Competitive eating really began with this style of contests, and we love keeping the tradition alive! We've done everything from french fries to pizza to wings.

By far our most popular contests to watch have always been Ghost Face Killa wing eating contests. It truly takes the bravest (and the strongest stomach) to be able to participate in this kind of competition. Ghost chiles are nothing to joke around about. This is a serious competition! I've seen some people truly regret participating. But there's always one who prevails!

If you think you can take on the Ghost Face Killa challenge, our store in Mechanicsburg is celebrating it's 2nd Anniversary this weekend and they are holding a Ghost Face Killa eating contest on Friday! The sign ups are at 9pm, the contest is at 10pm, and the winner gets a trip to Las Vegas!

Ghost Face Killa is for those who can handle the heat... but we know there's a lot more to eating than that. So on Saturday, the Mechanicsburg store is also holding a pizza eating contest! Embrace your inner "Deep Dish" Bertoletti and consume as much pizza as you can! The prize for this one is $250 and the registration is at 9pm and the contest is at 10pm.

There's lots of specials going on too so stop by this weekend and check it out!

Saucy News

Our boneless wing sampler gives you the ability to try 8 sauces at once!

We have lots going on lately in terms of our famous wing sauces!

Yesterday, we participated in Pennlive's Wing Quest. We are going up against 5 other local restaurants to determine which has the best wing in Central PA. You can check out a recap of the whole experience here!

We have some BIG NEWS too! Starting this month... we will feature a NEW, off-menu wing sauce every month! And for our first month we are offering our Pumpkin Wing Sauce. We originally concocted this stuff for Pumpkinfest in Enola a few years ago. Until now, that was the only place you can get it. We've had people continually ask over the years if they could get it in the stores, and now you can! This sauce doesn't have any heat, but has a nice sweet flavor full of pumpkin, nutmeg, and cinnamon. It's so perfect for this time of year. I highly recommend it! We have lots of sauces in the works for upcoming months too! So be on the look out for our sauce of the month!

Speaking of new sauces, we also recently released a new sauce on our regular menu! We call it the Hopinator! It's made with a mix of our hot and mild sauces, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, hop pellets, and hop leaves. It's full of a very different flavor from any of our other sauces, and anyone who likes beer will dig this sauce too.

This is your chance to unleash your inner Joey Chestnut!

I know we have a lot of "hot heads" out there, who have digestive tracts of steel. So I'm happy to inform all of you out there that on Friday, October 19th we are holding a Ghost Face Killa eating contest at our Mechanicsburg location. Registration is at 9pm and the contest is at 10pm! The Mechanicsburg store is also celebrating its 2nd anniversary. You can check out all the details here!

Our wings are great for tailgates! And you get a free Super Ranch or Super Bleu Cheese with 50 or more wings to go!

They may not be "sauces" technically but we think our Super Ranch and Super Bleu Cheese are pretty great too. And now, every time you order 50 wings or more to go, you get a free jar of your favorite super dressing! Perfect for your tailgate party or football party at home!

Don't forget! You can buy our sauces in any of our stores, at our website, or at any Karnes location!

Wings 'n Beer

 Wings and beer... a classic combination. But these days, your beer options have gotten far more vast. Which beers work best with your favorite wing sauce? That's a question we asked our friend and Harrisburg-based beer blogger, Tierney Pomone. Here's what Tierney had to say:

Being the sports and craft beer fan that I am, I couldn’t be happier to see the combination of the two at my favorite local sports bar – Aroogas. During football season, and for the majority of sporting events, wings are king. I am a huge fan of the newly added ‘skinny wings’ which are a billion times less effort to eat and just as less messy. When it comes to Aroogas wings picking the right sauce makes all the difference. Picking the right beer to go with them means even more.

When most people think of food and alcoholic beverage pairings they think of wine. Beer, just like its good friend wine, can be paired with foods in limitless combinations. Some beers are better paired with certain food flavors just like wine. Heading to Aroogas for some wings this weekend? Here are my suggested wing sauce and beer pairings:

Hickory Smoked Honey BBQ – DuClaw Bad Moon Porter

Not everyone likes a crazy hot sauce, and sometimes you’re just in the mood for that sweet, smoky flavor. Porters are a great match for barbeque sauce because their rich, roasted flavor enhances the smoke flavor without overpowering.

Toasted Asian Sesame – Millbock Richard Cranium Rye

Rye beer has a mild bready flavor that pairs perfectly with Asian cuisine. The Toasted Asian Sesame sauce, to me, is the perfect balance of ginger, soy sauce, and sesame flavor with a little hint of fruit and pairs perfectly the flavors of the Richard Cranium Rye.

Buffalo Bleu – Stone Ruination IPA

My number 1 favorite wing sauce at Aroogas is the Buffalo Bleu. It’s the perfect level of heat for me plus just enough bleu cheese creaminess…I’m drooling just writing about it! Since this sauce has a bit more heat than the rest, you’ll want a nice hoppy IPA to balance it out a bit. Stone’s Ruination IPA is the quintessential double IPA with big hop flavor making it a great match for a little bit of heat.

Red Thai – Kona Longboard Lager

When it comes to Indian-inspired flavors, lagers are your friend. Lagers have one of the mildest flavor profiles of all: low hop bitterness and slight grain malt flavor. Kona’s Longboard Lager is a great example of a traditional lager and will allow you to gain the full flavor experience of the Red Thai sauce instead of stealing the show.

Hot – Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA

Classic hot wings. Classic IPA. You’re a no frills kind of person and the 60 Minute IPA is a no frills kind of beer. 

Kangarooga – Goose Island 312 Wheat

The Kangarooga sauce is the hottest on the menu that I am willing to try and let me tell you it is hot. What I do love about this sauce, however, is that collection of flavors it includes. It has a little sweetness, a little tanginess, and a lot of heat from all those peppers. The 312 (pronounced 3-1-2 not 3-12) is an awesome wheat beer that will help quench the heat without over powering all of the natural flavors in the sauce. It will even help to pull some of that sweetness out of the sauce with it’s own fruity finish.

Ghost Face Killah – Duck Rabbit Milk Stout or Rogue Chocolate Stout

So you’re taking the plunge into the ghost chili peppers? After you sign that waiver, order yourself a Duck Rabbit Milk Stout if available or a Rogue Chocolate Stout. While you’re sweating, crying, and cursing yourself for choosing this sauce you’ll all least have a sweet stout to take your mind off of the burning. Plus, any spicy food expert will be the first to tell you that milk is your only antidote to the pain. Good luck!

You can get all of these beers at our Downtown location (and some of them at our other locations) so be sure to stop in and give these pairings a try. Thanks, Tierney! Make sure you check out Tierney's blog, Stouts & Stilettos for more cool posts about craft beer in Central PA!

National Buffalo Wing Festival 2012

I've always heard from my co-workers that the National Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo, NY was really cool... but I really had no idea what I was getting myself into! I usually have fun at our promo events, but this was definitely the MOST fun event I've done.

We met a TON of really cool people from all over the country, including lots of Arooga's fans! We befriended other restaurants who love buffalo wings as much as we do. We even met people who can eat more chicken wings in one sitting than I even want to think about. We met the WORLD CHAMPION competitive chicken wing eater and the LEGEND that he defeated! We do a lot of wing eating competitions in our store, and they're always really fun, but watching this was a whole different ball game.

We brought 6 different sauces with us to serve to the people of Buffalo: Hickory Smoked Honey BBQ, Buffalo Bleu, Kangarooga, Almost Everything, Kinda Hot, and Sudden Death. We got a TON of positive feedback on all of them. Especially the Buffalo Bleu! We had people coming back all day to get more of them.

We also won a 2nd place trophy for our Sudden Death sauce in the Extra Hot category! The people who tasted it told us it has a lot of flavor with a huge kick. We have to agree!

Here's a collection of pictures to give you all a better idea of everything we did:

Our tent!

We sold a ton of sauce bottles this weekend, too!

Mario & Alex are AWESOME! They kept the sauces moving!

The whole crew!

Mmmmmmmm wings...

Arooga's MVPs Time & Ashley!

We even brought Sudden Death with us!

Thanks to our friend from La Nova for the huge, delicious pizza! Check them out if you're ever in Buffalo!

I ran into Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas as I was coming out of the bathroom! She's a 6 time wing-eating champion at Buffalo and a competitive eating LEGEND!

Adam and I ran into Joey Chestnut right before he took the stage to win the Buffalo Buffet Bowl

We knew that we won something... but it was still nerve-wracking waiting to hear what it was!

Drew "The Wing King" Cerza making the announcements

We won 2nd place for Extra Hot with our Sudden Death sauce!

Randi and Ian are showing off the new bling!

Check out Linda's vintage Arooga's t-shirt! Love it!

And this shirt was just too funny to not get a picture of it!

Adam and I with IFOCE President George Shea and Competitive Eater/Rapper Eric Badlands Booker

This is Yasir Salem, he competed at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest at Coney Island AND ran a triathlon!

It was REALLY hot! Ian was doing whatever possible to stay cool in the shade!

George Shea is spreading the word!

Joey Chestnut came with the upset! Beat Sonya Thomas by eating 191 wings in 12 minutes!

Adam, Joey Chestnut, me, and THE TROPHY!

This is OUR trophy!

Adam and me with our friend, Badlands Booker!

We got to meet a whole bunch of the top competitive eaters in the world!

Drew is hanging with the new trophy!

It was a great weekend! We are all exhausted... but it was so worth it! We are already looking forward to next year's festival. Thank you to everyone who came to see us in Buffalo, to the Arooga's team for the fantastic job they all did, and special thanks to Drew Cerza and the entire staff and all of the volunteers at the National Buffalo Wing Festival for being great hosts and making our experience a great one!

We're on TV!

That's right... our first ever TV commercials have hit the airwaves! If you haven't seen them yet, take a look...







Filming a TV commercial is hard work! It took an entire day of on-site filming to do these extra scenes for these commercials. It was fun to see how these things work, though. It's a lot of smiling and chatting and repeating motions over and over again. Plus, it's a lot of yummy looking food! Here are a few photos from the day of the shoot...

And an added bonus... just for fun... Here's a blooper reel from one of the commercials!

Top 10 Fantasy Football Team Names

It's that time of year again... time for FANTASY FOOTBALL! We are pumped, and I'm sure you all are too! We also know that the hardest part of Fantasy Football isn't the draft or the stategy or the deals. It's coming up with your team name! So we thought we'd offer you our Top 10 favorite fantasy football team names for the 2012 season. Here they are:

10. Brady Gaga

9. Sacks to be Cutler

8. Back that Asamough Up

7. Colt Following

6. No Punt Intended

5. Joe Buck Yourself

4. Ring Around the Osi

3. Vick in a Box

2. The Playbook of Eli

1. I Got 99 Problems But My Pick Ain't One


I hope that helped you come up with something good! Now make sure you call us and get set up for your fantasy draft! Every league of 10 or people will get the following:

- one free draft beer up to $5 for each team
- 10 free wings on a future visit for each team
- Free Draft Kit
- Entry to win a 32" HDTV
- Entry to win a trip to New Orleans
- Entry to win an in-store Arooga's tailgate part worth upt to $150

And don't forget that every Arooga's location has FREE WIFI so you can keep track of all the stats and make sure you get the best picks!

Arooga's and the craft beer movement

If you've been to our downtown store, or to either of our stores in Camp Hill, York, Harrisburg on 22, you might notice that we're doing something a little different at Arooga's these days. We've always been known for our cold beer and liquor pitcher specials. But we've been watching the changes in the bar industry, and decided to take the opportunity to jump into the craft beer game. We all love beer. A lot. And we're excited to be able to bridge the gap between sports bars with the stereotypical cheap cold beer and the more diverse world of craft beer.

Image source: kegworks.com

As you can see from this graphic, since Arooga's opened in 2008, the number of craft breweries in the US has dramatically increased! For good reason, too. The diversity of flavors and styles that are being produced by small American breweries is astonishing. We're thrilled to be able to feature beers from some of our favorites like Dogfish Head, Stone, Flying Dog, Victory, Rogue, Sam Adams, Weyerbacher, Troegs, and so many more.

We're also excited to be featuring a beer at our downtown location that is made right here in Harrisburg! Millbock Brewing makes a lot of great beer and we currently have their Richard Cranium Rye Ale on draft.

And if you haven't heard... Maryland's top rated brewery has made it's way to Central PA. We are now serving beer from Duclaw Brewing Company at our Downtown and York locations. You may not have had a chance to try their beer before, but now you do. Come check them out!

We also want to make it a little easier for you to try some of these beers out. During happy hour at all our stores, all craft beer drafts are $2 off! That means you can be drinking many of these beers for only $3.50. We also feature different craft beers in our daily specials as well! So make sure you check our website to see what specials we have lined up for your favorite Arooga's location!

Introducing... Skinny Boneless Wings!

My tasting plate of skinny boneless wings!

There's only one word I can think of right now to describe the new wings I just tried: AMAZING! And I'm not just saying that because I work here. They were really freaking good.

I stopped into our Route 15 location to give them a try so I could write this post, and they really blew me away. I got them with my favorite wing sauce (Louisiana Garlic-Medium), and they came with a side of light ranch dressing. They were tender and easy to eat. Which is why I love boneless wings in the first place! I'm a bit weird when it comes to getting my hands messy, and by a bit weird I mean, I absolutely hate it! I've always felt that I had to sacrifice calories if I didn't want to avoid the mess that's associated with traditional wings.

NOT ANYMORE! The new skinny boneless wings are less than a 1/3 of the fat of regular boneless wings. They're baked instead of fried so they're not as greasy as original wings either. Because I'm training for my first 5K race, I found this to be pretty exciting! It's a great healthier alternative if you still want to enjoy some of Arooga's famous sauces but not splurge on calories. I have to say, even if they weren't healthier, I'd probably still eat these all the time! They're just that yummy.

And the even more exciting part? We are officially declaring the start of the week, Naked Monday! Skinny boneless wings will only be 39 cents from 5-9pm! Plus like our other types of wings, they'll also be only 49 cents during every happy hour! (Don't forget that you can always see the latest specials on our website too)

So, I definitely recommend checking these out. They're delicious, easy on the waistline, and come at great price! They'll be available at all Arooga's locations starting Monday!

This is what they'll look like when you order them. They come with Super Light Ranch and veggies!

Pinterest for sharing

I am posting today to officially announce that Arooga's is now on Pinterest!

I was very hesitant at first about starting up a Pinterest account. If we are going to use it, I wanted to use it right. I wanted to link our friends to interesting content across the internet and not just post our photos and specials. To be honest, there aren't a whole lot of examples of restaurants using Pinterest effectively. There are some great brands out there using it like Whole Foods, ModCloth, and General Electric, but I still wasn't sure if Pinterest was really the right place for a sports bar and restaurant to really make a splash.

The more time has gone on though, I felt like we were really missing out on a movement. Pinterest is SUCH a cool idea. It's great for sharing all kinds of ideas and information. We have lots of interesting ideas in this office all the time, so I felt like we could make a contribution of some sort.

I sat down and really thought about it. I mean REALLY thought about it. What kind of information do we have to share? What kind of information do our customers and fans want? Basically... what kind of things do we and our customers love? What do people talk about when they're at Arooga's? What makes them think of Arooga's when they're at home? I made a list of general topics that I felt answered these questions and there they were! The topics for our Pinterest boards!

I've always been an avid blog reader and my Google Reader is always expanding with new

We've had it up and running for a little over a week now, and without advertising much that we're on Pinterest we haven't received too much of a following, but I do find it interesting that our most popular pin so far was a post about Placido Polanco's 2,000th career hit. So, I think we're hitting the nail on the head with our boards, and I'm really excited to start building a following and start following some of you so we can share pins!

Perk of the job

I have to say, my job is pretty cool sometimes. One of my favorite perks of working for Arooga's is getting to work the promo tent at Harrisburg Senator's games! We talk to lots of people, and spread the Arooga's love. Plus we get to watch baseball!

We also get to participate in some of the games on the field in between innings and do some cool stuff like throwing t-shirts into the stands. It's pretty fun to be a part of the on field entertainment and help make the game fun for everyone.

This particular game that I want to tell you about was even more special. I walked in the front gate with Nikki, our marketing & catering manager, and we were greeted by Todd, our go-to guy for all things Senators. He asked if anyone would want to throw the first pitch. I'm pretty sure I squealed. Of course I want to throw the first pitch! It's a childhood dream for anyone who grew up watching baseball.

We quickly set up our tent and had a minute to relax before the gates opened. Usually I love the quiet at Metro Bank Park before the crowd comes in, but the silence started making me a bit nervous. I started thinking about all of terrible first pitches I've seen in the past that have made me laugh or made me roll my eyes. I did not want to be on of those! I didn't want to bomb the pitch like the people in this video:

Eventually we made our way down to the field. It looked like a storm was coming so the first pitch was delayed a little bit, but that was okay. It gave me some time to warm up! I tossed the ball around with Nikki and Greg (the in game host and friend of Arooga's!). I was still nervous but feeling a little more confident.

And good news.. I didn't bomb it! I made it across the plate! I don't think it would've been called a strike since it was a bit low, but it made it to the plate! 

Unfortunately the weather got a bit scary and we had to tear down our tent almost immediately after the pitch, but it was super fun and I'm very proud of myself. If you ever get the chance to throw a first pitch, DO IT! It's empowering! Plus now I have a trophy for my desk to cheer me up anytime I need a pick-me-up.