Twitter handle: @BrothersMuncie
$3 cover on "T-Shirt Thursday" nights, where they give out their t-shirt of the week while supplies last.
The Locker Room Specials for Friday nights: $3 U-Calls, $10 Redds Buckets, $6 Red Bull Vodka Pitcher, $8 Captain Pitcher
Brothers specials for Friday nights: $3 Three Olives, $4 Vegas Bombs, $4 Double Wells, $5 Premium Long Islands
After four weeks of business, some students said Brothers Bar & Grill is setting the standard for bars in the Village.
“It’s really nice and seems classy,” said Austin Smith, a senior psychology student. “Sometimes I go to some of the other bars that are here, and [they] feel dirty, the floor is sticky, the environment isn’t nice."
Smith said he thinks Brothers will change the local bar scene.
“It’s a nice bar, I think it’s really going to expand how the Village looks as a unit,” Smith said. “It’s definitely one of the better bars in the area.”
General Manager Thad Thomas said the business stresses the importance of being well kept.
“We’re going for clean, as clean as we can be,” Thomas said. “Every night we’re deep cleaning, and we have a checklist we go through and just make sure it’s always as clean as possible."
Still, Thomas would not say how well the restaurant has done financially.
“It’s a restaurant during the day for all ages, parents, children,” Thomas said. “At night we’re trying to [attract] TA’s, professors, students, everyone. We try to reach them all.”
Thomas said Brothers offers a different atmosphere than other bars and restaurants in the area. He said that the business is trying to reach all markets, not just college students or families, and that that is what sets them apart.
The bar also implements a dress code during the weekends, which bans camouflage, cut-off shirts, athletic shorts, bandanas and plain white t-shirts.
Jade Proctor, a senior nursing major, doesn’t think Brothers is setting a new standard for bars. She said Brothers is comparable to Scotty’s, and that people are being drawn in by the novelty of the new bar.
“I think it looks newer, for sure,” Proctor said. “But if you’re comparing it to Scotty’s I think it would just be the newness of it [that people are attracted to], rather than the classiness.”
Thomas said he expected people to come in because it was new, but that after three and a half weeks he is still happy with the amount of customers coming in. He said the staff is going to keep providing good service to entice customers to return.
“We’re just trying to do a really good job on all aspects, trying to do a good job with the service, the food, the pricing,” Thomas said. “We try to be really competitive, [have] a lot of really good specials … a lot of that’s going to help [business] from really tapering off too much on us.”
While most of their marketing is done on a corporate level, Thomas said the business is specifically reaching out to college students through Twitter. Drink specials are posted there, along with contests and information about its t-shirt giveaway that is run weekly. At the time publication, the Brothers - Muncie Twitter profile had 2,187 followers.
Proctor also said while the drinks were reasonably priced, the waiting times have been long and the bar has been crowded – typical wait times are 20 to 30 minutes.
MaryAnn Oehlerking, a chef, waiter and bartender at the Locker Room, said she doesn’t think Brothers is taking any business away from her bar.
“It hasn’t really been a detriment to our side of the Village,” Oehlerking said. “We have a pretty loyal group of people that come in here.”
Oehlerking said the Locker Room has a friendly environment, which is what keeps the customers coming back.
“I think it’s more of a laid-back kind of environment,” Oehlerking said. “We get pretty busy in here, but there’s more of a personable interaction between the customers and the bartenders and the employees that work here.”
Thomas said he hopes to continue to attract more people in the future, especially Ball State alumni.
“[Brothers] is new, but it’s got a good comfortable feeling to it,” Thomas said. “I think it’s going to attract a lot of people for a while as long was we do our end on the service and the food … hopefully we’re here for a while.”
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