How Does Buffalo Wings & Rings Compete In the Restaurant Franchise Segment?

Buffalo Wings & Rings cuts through the noise in the wing world with a powerful combination of fresh food, a friendly atmosphere, customization and one of the best operating teams in franchising.

While other restaurants specializing in wings have sacrificed quality to combat the increasing expense of chicken wings, Buffalo Wings & Rings has maintained product consistency, offering fresh, never-frozen wings (both bone-in and boneless) that constantly outperform the competition. In addition to its award-winning wings, Buffalo Wings & Rings is consistently praised for its sauces and also offers a variety of menu options outside of wings including salads and burgers.

Buffalo Wings & Rings is a marquee brand paving the way for sports-themed full-service restaurants and has cracked the code with regard to the food-to-bar ratio, checking in at the industry dream of 3 to 1. This is something similar franchises don’t offer.

“Other franchises are just wing joints,” says David Bourlier, Buffalo Wings & Rings multi-unit franchise owner. “They offer different flavor profiles or a sports atmosphere, but they don’t offer a club restaurant experience to the clientele or create an atmosphere that is family friendly and has something for everyone.”

Keeping it kid-friendly definitely set Buffalo Wings & Rings apart from the competition. They offer games for the kids to play and many locations also offer fully loaded tablets to keep young hands busy. From a design standpoint the bar area is intentionally separate from the restaurant so that kids don’t have to walk through the bar or by the door, they are contained in the restaurant – making it easier on parents. The loud sports club atmosphere also lends itself to being family friendly.

“We believe that elevating food and customer service is going to provide the guest and the investor long-term success,” said Philip Schram, Executive Vice President of Franchise Development. “We are going to be more successful than anyone else by playing in the fun zone.”

Buffalo Wings & Rings is focused on success for its franchisees as well. The customer service and training and development model allows people to come and step into a casual dining experience like no other out there along with a veteran executive team that is highly involved.

“Throughout the last five years, we have focused on ensuring we have the best business for multi-unit operators, both current and future,” said Schram, noting that the brand has created a full-service training for how to scale from one unit to multiple units. “Our business model thrives in that we are a casual dining experience that operates with a QSR kitchen to ensure an ease of operations and the highest margins.”

Looking ahead into 2015 Buffalo Wings & Rings is looking to stand out even more. They will be taking the wing to a new level and feature a limited time offer menu to keep consumers from getting palette fatigue.