Buffalo Wild Wing’s Success Targets the Grocerant Niche

 

There are at several reasons that Steven Johnosn, the Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA Based Foodservice Solutions® thinks that Buffalo Wild Wings' latest venture, Buffalo Wild Wings GO (BWW GO) will be a big hit.  This innovative concept is a game-changer in the Grocerant Niche for five key reasons: 

1.                   Smaller Footprint, Bigger Impact: BWW GO's compact design allows it to fit into bustling areas like airports, malls, and college campuses. This strategic placement brings the brand closer to its fans, increasing accessibility and visibility. 

2.                   Cost Efficiency: The smaller size of BWW GO locations results in reduced startup costs and lower operational expenses. This means a quicker return on investment for franchisees, making it an attractive business opportunity. 

3.                   Meeting Consumer Demand: With the rise of on-the-go dining, BWW GO is perfectly positioned to cater to this trend. Wings, a fan favorite, are now available at the customers' convenience, satisfying their cravings anytime, anywhere. 

4.                   Leveraging Brand Strength: Buffalo Wild Wings already has a strong and loyal fan base. By launching BWW GO under this established brand, Inspire Brands is capitalizing on existing brand equity to drive growth. 

5.                   Digital-First Approach: BWW GO is designed with a focus on the thriving take-out and delivery side of the business. This digital-first concept aligns with modern consumer preferences, further enhancing its appeal. 

I want you to think about this, BWW GO is not just a new restaurant concept; it's a strategic move by Buffalo Wild Wings and Inspire Brands to embrace the Grocerant Niche. It's a testament to their commitment to innovation, customer satisfaction, and growth. For more information on this exciting franchise opportunity, please visit the BWW GO Franchising website. 

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday than tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your continued success.

Buffalo Wild Wings Partnerships are Hot, Hot, Hot

 

While food discovery is key for Gen Z and Millennials, garnering Gen Z and Millennial customers is key for Buffalo Wild Wings.  According to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®, “Buffalo Wild Wings is leveraging flavor to garner Gen Z and Millennial customers into convenient mix & match meal participation, with differentiation and individualization.”

This has been a good year for Buffalo Wild Wings, remember the Flamin’ Hot ad breakout moment at the 2022 Super Bowl, with Megan Three Stallion promoting the flavor in Frito-Lay’s commercial. The last Monday, Buffalo Wild Wings capitalized on another national sporting event—the NCAA basketball championship game—to introduce heat-seeking customers to its new Doritos Flamin’ Hot Nacho Wings.

The fiery wings, developed in partnership with Frito-Lay’s Flamin’ Hot Doritos tortilla chips, make their official debut at BWW Wednesday and they will drive new electricity into the Buffalo Wild Wings brand specifically with Millennials and Gen Z consumers looking for food discovery according to Johnson.

So, the wings are spun in the proprietary flamin’ hot nacho sauce and topped with crumbles of the spicy tortilla chips. The menu addition offers another blazing option at BWW, this time, coupled with crunch.

Jamie Carawan, VP of brand menu and culinary at Buffalo Wild Wings, stated, “At Buffalo Wild Wings, we have built our reputation on delicious and unique flavor experiences that only we can deliver, and the new Doritos Flamin’ Hot Nacho Flavored Sauce is a slam dunk,”... “Our partnership with Doritos expands on our rich heritage of signature sauces as we continue to innovate and create unexpected, one-of-a-kind bold flavors for our fans.”

This partnership works as Buffalo Wild Wings also teamed up with Frito Lay last fall to launch Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili Flavored Sauce. The limited-time Doritos Flamin’ Hot Nacho Flavored Sauce brings another new flavor profile to the fiery sauce lineup at BWW, which also includes Nashville Hot, Asian Zing, Mango Habanero, Blazin’ Carolina Reaper and Jammin’ Jalapeno.

There is flavor enough for all, remember that Frito-Lay popularized the flavor profile with its Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and Doritos snacks, it’s since gained considerable traction in menu items and consumer products. The company previously teamed up with Taco Bell for the fan favorite Flamin’ Hot Doritos Locos Tacos, and the QSR expanded on that success with a flamin’ hot frozen slushie.

Once again, treats chain Marble Slab launched Flamin’ Hot Cheetos ice cream and milkshakes last summer, and Mountain Dew embraced the flavor in a limited-edition soft drink.

Buffalo Wild Wings is also partnering with Frito-Lay parent company Pepsi Co. on an exclusive beverage flavor—MTN DEW Legend—with notes of blackberry, ginger and citrus. The bubbly drink debuted in March at the sports bar chain and is rolling out nationally next month.

According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.” 

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, developing brands, unique urban clothing, grocerant positioning, fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different.  Remember differentiation does not mean different it means familiar but with a twist.

Don’t over reach. Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions® can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit us on our social media sites by clicking the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

In a Battle for Share of Stomach

The Consumer is Dynamic not Static

Brands must be Dynamic 

Then you Can Win

Buffalo Wild Wings Refocus with Outside Eyes for Inside Results

Success does leave clues and Buffalo Wild Wings recently did what restaurant chains did all the time back in 1970’s to 1980’s they hired leaders from successful retail CPG brands to lead the company to the next level.  Back in the day restaurants were known as ‘mom & pop organizations’ and ‘funky’ companies that were not very professional according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Once again the restaurant sector while not ‘funky’ is in a funk that requires disciplined outside-eyes to drive inside results elevating chain restaurants out of the ‘self-imposed brand protectionism’ that has stifled customer count growth for nearly 10 years.

So when Inspire Brands named Lyle Tick president of Buffalo Wild Wings, Johnson knew that the undercurrent of grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food was helping a sector get back to basics focusing on the customers first.

Tick was most recently managing director for the beauty brands business of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the Americas. Before working for Walgreens, Tick was senior global category director for Bacardi, based in London, and also the rum producer’s president of marketing for North America, based in Miami. He also has held various positions at marketing and advertising agencies, including J. Walter Thompson, Gotham, McGarryBowen and DDB, according to a press release by Inspire Brands.

Tick’s appointment comes on the heels of the appointment in late August of former hotel executive Seth Freeman as the chain’s chief marketing officer. To many chain restaurants have been doing what they have always done and continue to do it the same way.  Well, regular readers of this blog know that does not work forever! 

The line between retail channels continues to get thinner and thinner.  Food retail brands that insist on a policy of ‘brand protectionism’ will continue to capitulate market share, store numbers will shrink, and average unit volume will continue to slide according to Johnson. Is it time you invite in some Outside-Eyes?

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, www.Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or www.twitter.com/grocerant/

Buffalo Wild Wings Faster is Better

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson says “the customer is dynamic not static, when the customer moves retailers must move with them.  That is exactly the case as Buffalo Wild Wings (BWW’s) begins piloting B-Dubs Express restaurants focused on takeout and delivery.

The evolving Buffalo Wild Wings’ B-Dubs Express offers dine-in and takeout options expanding the reach of the brand while bringing added relevance to its customers.  Last week BWW’s began its pilot of  small-format restaurants called B-Dubs Express in Minneapolis that will focused on takeout and delivery.

The menu will include wings, a burger, Buffalo mac and cheese, a salad, and other items.

The fast-casual-style locations will also have televisions, beer and wine for those waiting or dining in. The pilots will provide a way for the company to learn about customer behavior. The B-Dubs Express location in Edina will be about a half mile from an existing Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant. This will provide a chance to see whether customers will go to both restaurants, depending on the occasion.

Takeout and delivery are nothing new for BWW’s  started out with counter service and converted to the full-service model about 15 years ago.  About two years ago, the company started to notice that more people were placing takeout orders.  Go figure!  The Grocerant niche is picking up momentum according to Johnson. 

Buffalo Wild Wings said in April that it was expanding its delivery service. Delivery service at the B-Dubs restaurants will be provided through a partnership with DoorDash. There were 62 billion visits to restaurants for the year ending March 2017, including pickup, takeout and dine-in, according to food industry research icon Bonnie Riggs of the NPD Group.

According to NPD data released recently, delivery grew in the first calendar quarter of 2017 by 2% while visits to casual dining restaurants and to family dining restaurants fell by 4% and 3% respectively. There are some axioms that always seem to be true and the one that comes to mind is the trend is your friend. 

Success does leave clues www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  is the global leader in grocerant niche business development.  We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities.  Has your company had a Grocerant ScoreCard completed, Grocerant Program Assessment, or new Grocerant niche product Ideation?  Want one?  Call 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us