According to Buffalo Wings & Rings Chief Development Officer Philip Schram, there are two keys to franchise success: the right location and the right franchisee.

“Both account for about 70 percent,” he said.

With that in mind, it makes sense Schram and his company would focus their efforts on perfecting the site selection process. What began as a pet project Schram would work on by himself in the evenings and during vacation has transformed the way the organization secures and develops different franchise locations.

Buffalo Wings & Rings has compiled reams of data pertaining to demographics and real estate, encompassing everything from the average age and household income of people who live near existing locations to how much traffic there is near various sites. The brand found correlations in data among the most successful franchisees.

“The idea is to use information from this database so when franchisees are submitting new locations, we can get information on the area and compare it to historical data,” Schram said.

The brand focuses on approximately 20 parameters to evaluate a location’s viability. While it’s unheard of for a single location to fit all these parameters, Schram said that as long as a site meets two-thirds, they consider it a workable option.

However, the site assessment doesn’t end there.

“Site selection is part art, part science,” Schram continued. “The art is site visits and looking at the location with multiple sets of eyes, typically including the franchisee, because they live there and will hopefully have an opinion about that location. Franchisees can tell us about traffic patterns and other info we may otherwise not know because we don’t live locally.”

The information database and site selection model have both evolved over time. After Schram came on board, he decided the company needed a more modern approach to selecting franchise locations. He began moonlighting on the project in 2008 and started utilizing it in mid-2009. As more information has been added, the model has become ever more specific and accurate.

“Every time we present the system to real estate companies, they are blown away that we have such a sophisticated tool,” Schram said.

This tool has helped Buffalo Wings & Rings locate spaces with the most potential for business success, supporting the company overall and ensuring franchisees are poised to reap the rewards. The brand is also applying its scientific approach to other aspects of the business.

Schram explained the company is about to finish up a year-long study with marketing partner Fishbowl based on customer data.

“Our current database is based on people who live and work around our restaurants, and for the last year we’ve been adding actual customer information to see how it correlates with what we know so far,” he said. “After a careful analysis of the new data, we’ll analyze gaps and upgrade the model accordingly.”

Many brands claim they never stop fine-tuning their products and services, but it’s clear Buffalo Wings & Rings is willing to put its money where its mouth is. More importantly, franchisees and customers alike are poised to benefit from the company’s unflinching desire for self-improvement. Lucky for them Buffalo Wings & Rings relies on an executive who counts statistics and mathematics among his hobbies.

Fishbowl and Buffalo Wings &Rings will present a joint webinar May 7 about business modeling and its application to site selection. Stay tuned.