where did bdubs come from?
Buffalo Wild Wings (originally Buffalo Wild Wings & Weck, hence the nickname BDubs, or BW3) is an American casual dining restaurant and sports bar franchise in the United States, Canada, India, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates which specializes in Buffalo wings and sauces.
It had 1,279 locations in the US and DC. The company is located in Atlanta, Georgia, in the Sandy Springs district, which is home to the parent company, Inspire Brands.
The location of its previous headquarters is still in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Jim Disbrow and Scott Lowery founded Buffalo Wild Wings and Weck in 1982. Lowery's parents were his ice skating coaches. After Disbrow had finished judging an amateur figure skating competition, he met up with a friend to get some chicken wings. They decided to open their own restaurant because they couldn't find a place to eat.
They chose a location near Ohio State University. Weck was an original part of the name, as beyond the wings and its dozen sauces, the restaurant served beef on weck.
Mark Lutz joined the pair six months after they opened. None of them had any restaurant experience and thus ran the entire business on their own. Over the next decade, the restaurant expanded into a chain with six additional locations in Ohio, Indiana, and Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The Colorado location was chosen because of its skiing.
The company began franchising in 1992 with the help of a Chicago-based law firm.
The franchise fee was between $15,000 and $20,000. The bottled wing sauces were manufactured by Wilsey, Inc. The headquarters of the company was in Cincinnati in 1992. In 1993, eight more locations were added.
Sally Smith was hired by Disbrow as a part-time CFO in 1994.
Smith wanted to stay in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area, so the company moved its headquarters there. Smith had to deal with a number of issues, including a potential bankruptcy. Smith was unable to determine the firm's net income prior to 1995. The company did $12 million in revenue in 1995 and had a loss of $1.6 million.
BW3 designed a prototype free-standing outlet with a clear separation between the bar and dining areas and seating 190 in to 5,000 to 7,500 square feet. This was a change from a sports bar to casual dining. The company looked at the qualifications of the new franchisees. Existing franchisees were encouraged to add more locations.
There were 48 locations with 12 corporate owned.
In August 1996, Smith was promoted to president and CEO. 35 new locations were opened at the end of the year An initial public stock offering was considered in 1998, but was discarded due to market conditions. The name BW3 and Buffalo Wild Wings was used in different markets in the first national ad campaign, so the decision was made to standardize the name throughout the system.
The company moved to increase home sales of their sauces.
The 100th location opened in Apple Valley, Minnesota, a short drive from its corporate headquarters. There were 23 company-owned restaurants.
In a December 1999 private placement, three venture capital firms and others purchased a majority stake. The funding was supposed to be used to expand with an expectation to have 260 sites by late-2003. The company tested several new sauces in 2000 but only added two to the menu with its first dessert.
Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar was in 19 states and 140 locations at the end of 2000, with one location in the city of its signature menu item, Buffalo, New York.
The system-wide revenue was $150 million in 2001, with same-stores growth of 8 percent per year. The company began selling food. The company signed a deal with Frito-Lay in 2001 to make branded potato chips.
Smith continued to work for Lowery as vice president of franchise construction after Disbrow's death.
There were more than 200 locations in 27 states by the third quarter of 2003
Buffalo Wild Wings opened its first restaurant in the United Arab Emirates in 2015.
BW3 took a minority stake in PizzaRev in March of 2013 and then purchased a majority stake in the chain in August of 2014.
In November 2017, Roark Capital Group and The Wendy's Company, co-owners of Arby's Restaurant Group, announced their plan to purchase the chain for about $2.4 billion plus debt. This deal was completed on February 5, 2018 with Arby's Restaurant Group being renamed Inspire Brands and set up as the parent holding company to Arby's, Buffalo Wild Wings, and R Taco. On September 5, 2018, the subsidiary of Inspire Brands changed its name to "Rusty taco."
Buffalo Wild Wings and MGM Resorts International entered into a multiyear deal. In 2020, Buffalo Wild Wings announced a national partnership the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS). During the 2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, Buffalo Wild Wings signed a sponsorship deal with Doug Edert, a breakout star of the Saint Peter's team that went on to become the first 15-seed ever to make a regional tournament final.
The chain is known for its Buffalo-style chicken wings, as well as other items such as chicken tender and legs. Appetizers, burgers, and other items are on the chain's menu.
The Blazin Wing Challenge is what they are known for. Customers are challenged to eat 12 of their hottest wings in six minutes. The winners get a free shirt.
The restaurants feature an open layout with a bar area and patio seating flanked by over 50 TVs and media screens. Server uniforms consisted of gray shorts and jerseys with the number 82, signifying the year that the chain was established in 1982. In December 2018, the brand unveiled a new restaurant design featuring a more prominent bar area, flexible seating areas, VIP spaces and large arena-like video screens with anti-glare technology. In 2019, a new uniform was introduced that only includes the company's logo.
