Buffalo Wings & Rings Eyes Midwest for Expansion

Further positioning itself as one of the hottest casual dining restaurants in its segment, Buffalo Wings & Rings continues to charge forward this year. With 32 consecutive quarters of positive same-store sales growth and plans to add 50 restaurants nationwide over the next five years, the brand is poised for record-breaking success in 2014. These recent achievements, coupled with its calculated bubble expansion strategy, has led Buffalo Wings & Rings to turn its attention to the Midwest for growth – with plans to open 25 locations and provide 1,000 jobs to the Chicago, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Cincinnati, Columbus, Louisville, Detroit and Toledo markets over the next five years. The brand already has three restaurants in Chicago, six restaurants in Cincinnati, three in Columbus and four locations in Indiana. “Our focus is expanding upon the strong foundations we have built with existing restaurants by adding new locations in the surrounding DMAs. Based on demographics matched with the ideal communities, we have carefully identified new markets within Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky,” said Philip Schram, Executive Vice President of Buffalo Wings & Rings, a 46-unit family, wings, sports and entertainment restaurant. These markets will be critical growth pieces for the brand, as Buffalo Wings & Rings continues to position itself as the No. 2 leader in the space behind Buffalo Wild Wings. “In many markets, their franchise expansion is restricted because of previous development agreements. The demand for restaurant ownership in the industry certainly exists. We are actively discussing growth with these prospects interested in expanding in the Midwest.” The ideal future Buffalo Wings & Rings owner has previous restaurant ownership, Schram added. “Many of our franchisees come from a multi-unit or multi-brand background. Because of the simplicity of our QSR-modeled kitchen, we attract a large scope of restaurant owners – from Subway and Quiznos to Dunkin’ Donuts and Marcos Pizza. We have seen an increased interest from strong operators looking to expand their brand portfolios.” While other chicken wing restaurants 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, including the recent launch of Wasabi and Bourbon BBQ. Since 2011, the brand’s newest prototype has been a huge success, both with new units and converted units. The brand has a flexible footprint of 4,500- 6,000-square-foot per location (customized to your real estate) and a seating range of 150-280 seats, as well as a covered outdoor patio in its design. New prototype elements feature two tap tables in the bar area, and high-definition matrix television units in the dining room and bar. Additional highlights of this next-generation model for the chain include a fresh and playful décor package, a focus on natural lighting, two gaming areas (in the dining room and the bar), round and oval booths in the dining room, a radius bar and other components conducive to the gathering of a wide variety of groups of all ages.