Buffalo Wild Wings coming to Canuckistan

TrailerParkBoys · #1 08-18-2010, 06:19 PM

Buffalo Wild Wings coming to Canada | Money | Toronto Sun

Buffalo Wild Wings, a U.S. casual dining chain, is coming to Canada in the first stage of an expansion plan that may extend to the U.K. and eventually Asia.

The Minneapolis, Minn.-based company plans to open 50 restaurants across the country over the next five years, creating 3,500 jobs.

The first locations are expected to open in Oshawa and Mississauga in southern Ontario early next year, followed by locations in major cities Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg before turning to Quebec and Nova Scotia.

The company was founded in 1982 by two friends who were unable to find Buffalo-style wings when they moved from Buffalo, N.Y., to Ohio. There are about 684 Buffalo Wild Wings locations across 44 U.S. states and plans to have 1,000 locations by 2013.

It was the approach of the 1,000-restaurant target south of the border that prompted the company to consider international expansion, with Canada as the first step.

“We think Canada has many of the same attributes as the U.S.,” chief executive Sally Smith said in an interview. “They are great sports fans, they like chicken wings and they like beer.”

The company is also looking at moving into Europe and has made several forays into the U.K., where it may open its first restaurants in about two years time.

“The European Union has a lot of opportunities for us, but Asia is right behind,” Smith said.

Buffalo Wild Wings has zero debt and is self-financed. It was ranked among Fortune magazine’s 100 fastest growing companies in 2009.

Smith said the low-cost dining concept and lack of debt has helped the company weather the financial crisis better than many other restaurant chains, with revenue growth coming in, in excess of 20% over the past couple of years.

“It’s been a big help for us that we have no long term debt,” she said. “As a lot of other chains had to pull back, we were able to go in with our strong balance sheet and had a lot of developers wanting to work with us.”

That lack of debt is also proving appealing for developers in Canada, she said.

Each store here will employ between 50 and 75 employees. The company is doing consumer research to adapt its model to Canadian tastes, which are subtly different from those in the U.S.

Apparently Canadians' favourite wings sauce is honey garlic, compared with honey barbecue down south, Smith said.