Who is Scott Wise

David Letterman. Papa John. Doug Jones. Scott Wise? Do you know the name? If you don't, you probably know the fruits of his labor.

By Laura Mathews

You’ve probably enjoyed a juicy burger or an ice-cold beer at Scotty’s Brewhouse in the village, but there’s a good chance you don’t know the story behind the man who started it all.

Scott Wise, 34, didn’t go to college with plans to open a restaurant, let alone the five that now bear his name. He studied marketing and public relations at Ball State University and graduated in 1995. He got his first job as a copywriter in Texas, but soon found himself back in Muncie, dreaming up plans for his first restaurant. Wise heard that a popular campus bar, Mugley’s Pub & Eatery was for sale, and he took a risk and bought the bar. Wise opened his first Scotty’s Brewhouse in 1996.

“I’ve always been kind of a dreamer,” says Wise of his decision to open Scotty’s, “So, whenever I do something I’ve always dreamed a little bigger—I just wanted to prove that I could do that. I want to continuously challenge myself.”

Wise’s desire for challenges led him to open a store in Bloomington. Then he moved on to conquer Lafayette, and finally two Indianapolis locations. This January, his fifth Scotty’s opened in downtown Indianapolis, and he doesn’t plan on stopping there. He hopes to open restaurants in Lincoln Park in Chicago and Columbus, Ohio in the near future.

Wise credits his success with Scotty’s to his love for his job. He says the thing he enjoys most is the marketing and PR he does for his company.

“When I first created the place, it was really based on things that I liked,” says Wise. “I feel like I’m kind of the typical American male. I like beer and sports and wings and burgers and fries.”

He says it was easy to formulate the idea for the restaurant, but the challenge has been maintaining the originality as his company expands. He doesn’t want his restaurants to become “watered down” like the popular chains Friday’s and Applebee’s, and for this reason he is always reinventing his company.

Wise also credits much of his success to the great staff he works with; he’s grateful to have people he can trust behind him.

“I’ve got a good team that makes me look a lot smarter than I am,” says Wise, who wants to make his business a fun place. He says a lot of the Scotty’s family, and about 80 percent of his corporate team, is actually made up of Ball State graduates.

Wise says he wants to maintain his connection to the Ball State community and the Muncie area. He hopes that he can make the university and its alumni proud as he continues in his career, perhaps even making a better name for the university that he thinks often gets forgotten.

“I’ve been involved with classes at Ball State—and I’m always happy to do that,” says Wise. “I don’t put on my suit, and I talk like I am, because I’m a bar owner. I like giving back to the university that way.” He says he would also like to set up a scholarship for students in the future.