CASE 3 • BUFFALO WILD WINGS; INC

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CASE 3 • BUFFALO WILD WINGS; INC., 2013 391
Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Buffalo Wild Wings (BWW) is the largest chicken wing—based sports bar in the .USA. BWW offers a welcoming atmosphere, open layout catering to families, sports enthusiasts, and chicken wing lovers. The typical store offers 20 to 30 different beers on draft and tap, up to 10 projection TV screens, and up to 50 smaller TVs for people to watch sporting events. BWW specializes in traditional bone-in chicken wings and boneless chicken wings complimented by its 16 different wing sauces. BWW also sells burgers, other finger foods, and alcoholic beverages. The typical restaurant offers a diverse selection of beers, wines, and liquor options. As of year end 2012, BWW operated 891 stores of which 381 were company-owned and 510 were franchisee-owned. The company expects to increase its total number of restaurants by 105 in 2013 and approximately by the same amount in 2014. The typical restaurant is between 4,000 and 10,000 square feet and costs around $2 million to build, including the land, building, appliances, etc. Each has 50 high-definition flat-screen TV's and 10 large projection screen TV's. Takeout orders comprise 14 percent of BWW sales. In their company-owned restaurants, BWW employs 25,500 people, 2,800 full-time and 22,300 part-time, which it calls team members. Five of the top nine executives are females including the CEO, Sally J. Smith. BWW operates its 817 stores in 48 U.S. states and Canada. BWW opened five new restaurants in 2012 on the parking lots of big-box retail stores such as Home Depot. BWW expects to have 1,500 restaurants in the USA and Canada by 2016, and many of them will be in vacant space of Sears stores, parking lots, and malls. Copyright by Fred David Books LLC. (Written by Forest R. David)
History In 1981, James Disbrow, from Buffalo, New York, along with friend, Scott Lowery, went looking for a Buffalo-style chicken wing restaurant around the campus of Kent State University in Ohio while judging a figure skating competition. Unable to find a satisfactory restaurant in the area similar to what they knew was good from back home, the concept of opening Buffalo Wild Wings and expanding this tradition of Buffalo, New York, to other areas of the country was born. The first restaurant named Buffalo Wild Wings & Weck or BW3, was opened in Columbus, Ohio, in 1982 near the campus of Ohio State University. In 1991, BWW began its franchising Program and in 2003 the company completed its initial public offering.
Vision and Mission BWW refers to its mission statement in its code of ethics, but the firm does not provide an explicit mission or vision statement on its website or its annual report. However, BWW does provide its "concept and business strategy" as follows: Continue to strengthen the Buffalo Wild Wings brand Deliver a unique guest experience Offer boldly-flavored menu items with broad appeal Create an inviting, neighborhood atmosphere, Focus on operational excellence, Open restaurants in new and exciting domestic markets and new countries and Increase same-store sales, average unit volumes and profitability.