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On Stands Now!
On Stands Now!

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How Walk-On’s makes corporate look cool in its upgraded headquarters

  • By Devon Sanders @devonsanders97
  • Photography by Malarie Zaunbrecher

Last March, Walk-On’s moved its corporate office from downtown to be a little closer to home: right across the parking lot from its original restaurant location.

Taking over the 27,000-square-feet space that was once the Co-op Bookstore on Burbank Drive, the team made the building the ultimate illustration of their central message: Work hard, play harder. Incorporating an open workspace and features meant to keep the staff of nearly 40 employees active, it reflects the restaurant’s signature camaraderie fused with competitiveness.

“We don’t take ourselves too seriously … we work hard, but we also realize it’s all about the culture. We want to have a fun-filled, kind of light-work-out atmosphere where we can still get a lot of work done,” says Jeanne Hunt, Walk-On’s franchise compliance and integration manager.

Hunt gives us a tour of the space and shows off what makes the office a slam dunk. walk-ons.com

This sporty area features a basketball hoop and court space, shuffleboard table, golf simulator, pool table and basketball arcade game. “It gives you kind of a break if you need it,” Hunt says. “If you have had a stressful day and need to destress for a second—shoot a couple hoops, hit the golf simulator—you can.”
A mock restaurant right in the middle of the office doubles as a staff hangout and a space to host guests and clients. “Four days out of five days, we will all congregate here and will eat our lunches. We like to maintain that family-like unit that we are as a corporate team,” Hunt says.

A workout room with weights and punching bags is tucked toward the back. Weekly workout classes are available for staff.

A slide in the middle of the office? Nothing new for Walk-On’s. The restaurant’s previous corporate office also had a slide, but this new version is bigger and closed in for safety.
Open cubicles offer some privacy while still encouraging coworker interaction. “In our previous office, it was just one big wide-open space with two actual offices,” Hunt says. “I could literally look across a half-wall and see the entire accounting department or marketing department. We wanted to keep that close-knit atmosphere but still give everyone a somewhat private space.”

This article was originally published in the January 2019 issue of 225 Magazine.


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