Buffalo Wild Wings Go’s 100th location opens Wednesday on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Source: Buffalo Wild Wings
Buffalo Wild Wings 100th Anniversaryth on Wednesday, four years after launching a quick-service branch of its sports bar chain, to a New York City location.
BWW Go sells the chain’s famous wings and other classic menu items, but its locations are smaller and limited to delivery and to-go orders. For the sports bar chain, it’s a way to make its brand more popular while providing more convenience to customers.
Buffalo Wild Wings has been part of Inspire Brands, which is backed by private equity firm Roark Capital, since 2018. Inspire was originally formed through the merger of BWW and Arby’s, and later added other chains, including Sonic Drive-In, Jimmy John’s, Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins.
inspiration is It is said Consider listing in late 2024 or 2025 and seeking a $20 billion valuation.
BWW is the second largest casual dining chain in the U.S. bar and grill category, with a market share of 14.4%, trailing only Catering brand Applebee’s, according to research from Barclays. It dominates chicken wings among its closest competitors and will supply more than 3 million gallons of ranch and blue cheese sauce by 2023.
But the casual dining sector has struggled, with listed competitors including Chili and red robin Forever stuck in turnover mode.
Buffalo Wild Wings revenue will fall 1% to $2.32 billion in 2023, according to franchise disclosure documents. Fast-growing derivatives like Go could make Inspire more attractive to potential public market investors.
According to franchise disclosure documents, opening a traditional Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant requires an initial investment of $2.44 million to $4.83 million, depending on the restaurant’s location and other factors. By comparison, opening a Go store will cost franchisees about $560,000 to $1.05 million.
The average BWW sports bar is about 6,000 square feet, while the average Go bar is about 1,500 square feet. This means cheaper real estate, faster construction, and easier operation.
“With the ability to fit into a smaller footprint, it brings recognition to established brands while having unlimited potential for emerging brands,” said Jack Litman, president of The Munson Group and a Top 100 franchisee.th Go to location.
Take over takeaway
The Go format is primarily meant to attract customers who sometimes don’t want to abandon their couches and head to a sports bar.
BWW Brand President John Bowie said that before the outbreak, off-site orders accounted for 15% of Buffalo Wild Wings sales. Takeout and delivery now account for about a third of BWW’s sales.
“This is an opportunity for us to put the to-go portion of the business in a separate unit and put it in a very convenient location, close to our customers,” Bowie told CNBC.
As of Wednesday, BWW has also branded its entire off-site operations the Go name.
buffalo wild wings go
Courtesy: Buffalo Wild Wings Go
BWW’s off-premise growth mirrors growth in the broader chicken wings category, which has surged in popularity during the pandemic. Like pizza, chicken wings are easily transported when shipped, but they also offer more variety, with an array of sauces and seasonings to change the flavor.
While pizza chains like domino Pizza Hut and Pizza Hut sales have struggled since the pandemic as pizza fatigue sets in, but chicken wings haven’t slowed down in the same way.
Such as fast casual chains and stock market darlings wing stop The company reported strong same-store sales growth over the past year and a half, bucking industry trends. Bernstein analyst Danilo Gargiulo wrote in a February research note that Wingstop has the potential to become “the next domino.” (Roark Capital previously owned Wingstop but exited the chain a year and a half after its IPO.)
Other chains are now looking to wings to boost sales. International restaurant brand Popeyes permanently added chicken wings to its menu last year.
BWW Go also gives the chain a chance to better compete with its fast-food rivals. The chain could tweak its limited menu to attract customers looking for a convenient dinner.
BWW chief marketing officer Tristan Meline told CNBC the chain may offer more specialty sauces, menu items or deals to Go customers in the future.
Growing interest
Bowie said BWW plans to continue adding to its current roster of more than 1,300 sports bars, but Go is opening stores much faster.
“It takes a long time to get sports bar approvals and build sports bars, but we’ve seen that with the 60 franchises we have now we can start to phase out those franchisees and the growth is going to be very exciting,” he said.
BWW has secured commitments from nearly 600 franchisees to open more Go stores. About 85% of operators also franchise with other Inspire-owned chains, such as Dunkin’ or Arby’s.
But calls for the franchise also come from outside Inspire. Bowie said he has heard from large franchisees who already operate multiple concepts.
The chain plans to open 50 more Go stores by the end of this year.
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