Buffalo Wild Wings: Blazin' hot

According to culinary lore, it was 1964 when Teressa Bellissimo, first lady of Buffalo’s Anchor Bar on Main Street, took delivery of what was supposed to be the chicken backs and necks for her signature spaghetti sauce. By mistake, she got the least useful part of the chicken: wings. Instead of tossing them, she split them in two, dropped them in the deep fryer, and gave them away at the bar with celery and blue-cheese dressing left over from her antipasto.

Had Teressa simply discarded those unwanted wings, there would never have been a Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. (Nasdaq:BWLD), one of the top 10 fastest growing restaurant chains in the country. Founded in 1982 by two hungry guys near The Ohio State University campus, the company went public in 2003 with its successful combination of wings, beer and sports, and hasn’t stopped growing since. The Minneapolis-based restaurant owner and franchiser finished the second quarter of 2008 with 515 restaurants in 37 states, and impressive year-over-year growth in revenue and earnings from both its company-owned and franchised units. Unlike its competitors in the casual-dining business, Buffalo Wild Wings has somehow found a way to convince diners that in spite of $4-per-gallon gas, declining home values and the shrinking roll of cash in their pockets, they should come out for a cold beer, a bucket of Buffalo wings with Blazin’ hot sauce and a game of Sauce N’ Slide.  

One of the biggest reasons for the attraction is the product itself. Each restaurant features 20 different domestic and international beers on tap, 14 sauces for the signature wings and extensive media centers, including projection screens and as many as 40 TVs. The food is good and the environment is fun and energetic. Diners not interested in what’s on TV can enjoy the piped in music while they play trivia or video games.

For those with children or an aversion to fried foods, menus have been expanded to include salads and sandwiches, and TV monitors are as likely to be showing . . .

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