The WingHouse Bar & Grill at 2145 E. Silver Springs Blvd. in Ocala has closed for good, but the restaurant's own announcement left out the messier details behind the shutdown. State regulators had already forced the location to stop operating on Sept. 25, 2026, after a routine food safety inspection turned up conditions severe enough to trigger an emergency closure.
According to the Bradenton Herald, WingHouse posted news of its closure to Facebook on Oct. 1, and a corporate spokesperson later confirmed the shutdown in an email to the Ocala Star-Banner. But records reviewed by Ocala-News.com show the restaurant's fate was effectively sealed nearly a week earlier, when Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation inspectors cited the location for 17 total violations, including four high-priority infractions involving live roaches under kitchen equipment, flying insects behind the bar, and roach excrement found along the cookline.
Three Failed Inspections in a Row
Florida's DBPR requires restaurants that undergo an emergency closure to pass a follow-up inspection before reopening to the public. The Ocala WingHouse couldn't clear that bar at first. The same report from the same outlet notes the location failed follow-up checks on Sept. 26 and earlier on Sept. 28, but a fourth inspection later that day found it met sanitation standards and cleared it to resume operations.
State inspectors cited the Silver Springs Boulevard location for sanitation problems during the September 2026 inspection.
A Brand Built by an Ex-NFL Lineman, Now Shrinking
WingHouse traces back to 1994, when former University of Florida and NFL offensive lineman Crawford Ker founded the chain in Largo, Florida, modeling its waitstaff concept on the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, per Nation's Restaurant News. The brand even beat rival Hooters in court: in 2006, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a jury verdict in WingHouse's favor after Hooters sued over waitstaff uniforms and decor, resulting in a $1.2 million award for Ker's company, according to Wikipedia.
Jacksonville-based restaurant holding company ARC Group Inc. bought the WingHouse brand and its 24 locations in October 2019 for $18 million, a deal made up of $12 million in cash and $6 million in stock, the Jacksonville Daily Record reported at the time. ARC Group, which also runs Dick's Wings & Grill and Fat Patty's, had the acquisition spearheaded by then-CEO Richard Akam, who had previously led Hooters of America — putting a former rival executive in charge of the chain that once beat Hooters in court, according to Restaurant Business Magazine.
A Footprint That Keeps Shrinking
The Ocala closure is part of a much longer slide for WingHouse. The chain had more than 20 restaurants statewide before a later reduction, according to the Tampa Bay Times. WingHouse's own corporate website now lists just 10 remaining locations nationwide, the Bradenton Herald noted.
Just weeks before the Ocala site went dark, WingHouse permanently closed its original 30-year-old flagship restaurant on Ulmerton Road in Largo in August 2026. The same Tampa Bay Times report notes that the flagship site is being replaced by a new sports bar concept, marking the end of an era for the chain even at the location where it all began.
