Buffalo Wild Wings Mission Analysis
Gavin Thomas
Introduction
In 1982, Jim Disbrow and Scott Lowery opened up their first restaurant and called it
“Buffalo Wild Wings & Weck” near the campus of The Ohio State University. The two
entrepreneurs grew the restaurant to thirty-five restaurants over the next twelve
years. Unfortunately, the cost of the growth was potentially bankruptcy-inducing
debt. In 1994, Sally Smith became Chief Financial Officer and two years later became
Chief Executive Officer. Under Smith’s leadership, Buffalo Wild Wings escaped the
throngs of debt and prospered for almost a decade before going public in 2003. In
an effort to target a larger audience and build their brand, Buffalo Wild Wings
revamped its restaurant in 2012. This meant removing “Grill & Bar” from its name in
addition to a refreshed logo and redesigned restaurant (Buffalowildwings.com).
Today, Buffalo Wild Wings is the premier sports-bar in America for sports fans, but
also a great option for families eating out. This paper will analyze current remote
and external environments that shape the business strategies that have led, and
should lead to another decade of excellence.
Company Mission Analysis
Mission Statement
Buffalo Wild Wings states their mission as: “Our mission is to WOW people
everyday. We are guest-driven. We will WOW our guests every day by achieving the
highest level of satisfaction with an extraordinary focus on friendly service, food,
fun, and value. We are team-focused. We will WOW our team members by providing
the same respect, positive encouragement and fair treatment within the
organization that we expect Team Members to share externally with every guest.
We are community-connected. We will WOW the communities where we do
business by practicing good citizenship and helping to make these communities
better places to live, work and grow. We are dedicated to excellence. We will WOW
our stakeholders with outstanding, industry-leading financial results and
operational performance. We attribute our success to the hard work and dedication
of our team. While our famous wings spun in our signature sauces, diverse beer
selection, and unsurpassed audio-visual experience may bring customers to Buffalo
Wild Wings in the first place, it's our people who ultimately give them a reason to
keep coming back” (World Wide Wings).
Mission Statement Analysis
There are three indispensable components of the mission statement: Basic
specification of the product or service, specification of the primary market, and
specification of the principal technology for product or delivery. Buffalo Wild Wings
delivers all three, although they could be more specific about their target market.
The statement explains that they sell a product augmented through their service and
experience. BWW sells famous wings, beer, and other menu items that should
appeal to customers, but the atmosphere created by the restaurant “give[s] them a
reason to keep coming back.” The atmosphere is created by their focus on friendly
service, food, and “unsurpassed audio-visual experience” (World Wide Wings). The
specification of the product is extremely straightforward. Buffalo Wild Wings clearly
states their focus as selling beer and high-quality wings. Although food is the
physical product sold, they also specify how they augment their product; through
the service and the unique experience provided through large televisions and sound
systems.
Buffalo Wild Wings tacitly defines their target market throughout their mission
statement. Combining an emphasis on an excellent audio-visual experience with a
focus on selling beer and wings in the mission statement places Buffalo Wild Wings’
primary target market as young men who frequent sports-bars.
Workers are the avenue through which the product is delivered to the customers in
the restaurant industry. In other words, workers are Buffalo Wild Wings’ technology
for product delivery. They extoll their staff as the principal reason for returning
customers and acknowledge that their treatment of the employees must remain as
good, or better, than the employees are expected to service the customer. The
employees are seen as one of the most important stakeholders.
Buffalo Wild Wings makes the shareholder part of the mission statement as well.
Their mission is to deliver “industry-leading financial performance and operational
excellence.” Many companies don’t include goals like this in their mission
statements, yet BWW puts the pressure on themselves and has delivered by more
than doubling the NASDAQ over the course of the last five years (Yahoo Finance). It
is interesting that they don’t just plan on giving this to strictly their shareholders,
but to all their stakeholders. At quick glance, the local community wouldn’t have a
vested interest in the financial performance of the company, but they do care about
operational excellence as they are the customers. Indirectly, the community cares
about the financial success of Buffalo Wild Wings because that allows the company
to sponsor fundraisers and to be charitable.
Aside from the employees and shareholders, Buffalo Wild Wings ensures that the
customer and local community are seen as a major stakeholder throughout the
mission statement. To the restaurant, the local community is seen as existing and
potential customers, so they aim to treat them in a similar fashion. It is a corporate
mission to help make the local community a better place to “live, work, and grow.”
They achieve this through consistent fundraising efforts that envelop and support
the area and that will be discussed in the Corporate Social Responsibility section.
The company creed is found in the “WOW[ing]” theme throughout the mission
statement. They plan to treat four different sections of the company and achieve the
same result: happiness. The happiness created is not the child-like happiness at an
amusement park, but the happiness that creates loyal employees, returning
customers, supportive community, and content stockholders. The company views
the treatment of employees as important as their employees’ treatment of
customers, perhaps acknowledging the link between motivated workers and loyal
customers. A strong link between company and employee and employee and
customer will make the company stakeholder ecstatic though corporate profits and
the local community benefits through Buffalo Wild Wings sponsoring teams, and
helping out with fundraisers with schools and churches.
The three new trends in mission statements are customer focus, quality focus, and a
vision statement. Buffalo Wild Wings is ahead of the game and incorporates all
three.
The company self-professes to be “customer driven.” Not only this, Buffalo Wild
Wings continues to say that they will “WOW” the customer and that through their
unique combination of quality food, service, and atmosphere, that customers will
want to come back. The whole restaurant theme is planned for their customers and
the company does a good job of making sure that they include this in the mission
statement.
Like many food companies, Buffalo Wild Wings includes quality and value of their
food as a key component of their mission statement. Unlike many companies,
Buffalo Wild Wings considers that atmosphere of the restaurant to be part of the
quality of the good/service that they provide. They aim for the customer to have the
highest quality experience possible through friendly service, and an unforgettable
atmosphere during the games.
“While our famous wings spun in our signature sauces, diverse beer selection, and
unsurpassed audio-visual experience may bring customers to Buffalo Wild Wings in
the first place, it's our people who ultimately give them a reason to keep coming
back” (World Wide Wings). This seems to be Buffalo Wild Wings’ Vision Statement
because it focuses the company’s resources directly to the customer through the
food, audiovisual entertainment, and service.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the actions of a company that benefit
society beyond the requirement of the law and the shareholders. CSR can be split
into four categories of responsibility: economic, ethical, legal, and discretionary.
Buffalo Wild Wings addresses CSR throughout their mission statement. They make
very clear their economic responsibility to their shareholders by promising
“industry-leading financial results and operational performance.” This particular
part is as bold and blunt as economic responsibility will surface in any other
company’s mission statement. They also address their ethical responsibility through
their treatment of the employees. The corporation’s mission is to treat the
employees with the same respect that they treat the customers. Happy workers
make profitable businesses. Buffalo Wild Wings doesn’t explicitly state any legal
responsibilities as far as CSR is concerned, but it is rare for companies to include
legal promises within mission statements. Discretionary responsibility is specifically
addressed in the blurb about the community: “We are community-connected. We
will WOW the communities where we do business by practicing good citizenship
and helping to make these communities better places to live, work and grow.” Their
mission to help the community is longer than many companies’ entire mission
statements.
The economic responsibility of Buffalo Wild Wings is to maximize stockholder
wealth. Over the last five years, the stock price of Buffalo Wild Wings, NASDAQ
ticker BWLD, is up nearly 500% while the NASDAQ is up nearly 200% (Yahoo
Finance). By beating the market by more than double, Buffalo Wild Wings has more
than upheld their economic responsibility.
Corporate Buffalo Wild Wings hasn’t faced any recent major lawsuits recently. In
fact, they won the 2013 VIBE Vista Operator Award for Best Responsible Alcohol
Service Program (NRA). With many restaurants, such as Applebee’s, facing lawsuits
about serving customers dangerous amounts of alcohol, this is quite a testament to
the legal responsibility of the company. In May of 2013, an Applebee’s in New
Mexico served a patron too much alcohol and let him leave the restaurant. Soon
after leaving, the customer drove intoxicated and killed a pedestrian crossing the
street (Insurance Journal). By winning the award, Buffalo Wild Wings has showed a
dedication to uphold the legal expectations of serving alcohol at their restaurant,
and a responsibility to keep the community safe.
Buffalo Wild Wings has upheld their ethical and discretionary responsibilities as a
company. Fundraising is essential to Buffalo Wild Wings because they want to be the
destination spot in the community. In 2013, the Boys and Girls Club of America will
have received $600,000 from Buffalo Wild Wings’ donations. Other successful
promotions have yielded more than $1 million to “local organizations that assist
youth and families in need, military veterans, and disaster relief efforts” (BWW). In
addition to the corporate fundraisers, franchises and corporate stores alike are
expected to contribute within the community. This entails school fundraisers,
sponsoring local youth sports teams, and sponsoring local professional teams
among others. CSR is not a forced concept for Buffalo Wild Wings because as a
sports bar, it is already vital to interact within the community that they reside.
Fundraisers and sponsorships are a great way to comingle with the locals and helps
them reach markets outside of their target market. Through constant connection to
the community, Buffalo Wild Wings has established itself as a positive, giving
presence.
Csrhub.com is a website that researches companies and gives them CSR rankings
based on their actions. With over 8,900 companies in the database, it is a valid
source for CSR analysis. The average overall CSR rating for United States companies
is a 52. Buffalo Wild Wings is slightly above average with a score of 56. In the
subcategories, only their community rating was below average when compared to
the US average. Employees, environment, and governance ratings were all above the
US average (CSRHub). While Buffalo Wild Wings is not perfect in CSR terms, it
appears that they make an earnest effort and are above average when compared to
other United States companies.
Remote Environment
Background
“The remote environment comprises factors that originate beyond, and usually
irrespective of, any single firm’s operation situation: 1) economic, 2) social, 3)
political, 4) technological, and 5) ecological factors” (Pearce). While the firm doesn’t
have any influence on it, the remote environment shapes a firm’s opportunities,
threats and constraints.
Economic
Buffalo Wild Wing’s remote economic environment is impacted the most by two
recent events: the Federal Reserve bond-buying stimulus program and the
minimum wage law debate. In order to create stability and encourage economic
growth, the Federal Reserve has been buying back bonds at a rate of $85 bill a
month. This kept interest rates artificially low to encourage borrowing money for
corporate growth. Now that the economy has rebounded, the Federal Reserve has
announced that the buy-back program will be tapered throughout the year, slowly
taking the economy off life-support and letting the markets function normally (Lee).
Because Buffalo Wild Wings is a publically traded corporation on the NASDAQ, they
are directly impacted through the bond-stimulus program. Since 2008, the stock
market has produced exceptional returns despite moderate economic growth.
Throughout history, the stock market and economic growth have paralleled, but:
“The general consensus, which is likely accurate, is that the Fed policy is the reason
for the disconnect” (Thomas). Essentially, the stock market might normalize when
the tapering is done and the Federal Reserve ends the stimulus. A normalized stock
market would result in an incrementally lower stock price for Buffalo Wild Wings.
This would bring down their market capitalization and possibly lead to a slight
change in capital structure and impact future financing.
President Obama has made minimum wage law a point of emphasis in his most
recent State of the Union address. The president will sign an executive order to
increase federal minimum wage to $10.10 from $7.25. A recent study found that “71
percent of Americans [are] in favor of raising the minimum wage – including more
than half of the Republicans polled” (Fox News). Increases in minimum wage will
have a substantial impact on the restaurant industry because many workers earn
minimum wage, or less depending on if they earn tip money. Increasing minimum
wage would bite into Buffalo Wild Wings’ earnings as they have to pay more to most
employees. Because the hourly workers will see an increase in compensation, the
rest of the workers earning slightly higher than the minimum wage hourly worker
will seek a raise to stay above their economic subordinates. With nearly a 40%
increase in salary for many workers, Buffalo Wild Wings can expect to see shrinking
margins.
Political
The political remote environment of Buffalo Wild Wings is comprised of minimum
wage law, potential marijuana legalization, and the Affordable Care Act. The
minimum wage reform is part of the political environment because the president is
advocating for a countrywide increase and is leading the way by increasing the
federal minimum wage. It originally started as a social issue with the Occupy Wall
Street movement among other cries from the United States despondent lower and
middle class and has grown to the political level after a couple years (Occupy
Wallstreet).
Marijuana legalization has been a social topic in the United States for decades. It had
never really gained any political steam until recently when Colorado and
Washington legalized recreational marijuana sales. With smoking marijuana illegal
in some states and legal in others, it raises a dilemma for companies that operate in
both precincts. An issue that Buffalo Wild Wings and all companies will have to
figure out is whether or not they will allow their employees to possess or use
marijuana on company real estate despite it potentially becoming legal.
The Affordable Care Act will have a substantial impact on Buffalo Wild Wings, as it
will raise the price of health care coverage for the employees. CEO Sally Smith
responds to the act: “I think we’ll continue to refine our labor model…I think you’ll
see labor software coming out to help restaurateurs and retailers meet the demand
for the hours, as well as what our team members need” (Coombs). Basically, Buffalo
Wild Wings will try to ensure that the minimum number of employees work more
than the thirty hours per week threshold that locks in required healthcare. The
Affordable Care Act will lead to less full-time workers and potentially slimmer
margins because of the cost increase.
Social
Buffalo Wild Wings’ social remote environment is comprised of marijuana
legalization and the social media explosion. As stated above, the push for legalized
marijuana started as a social idea from “hippies” and grew into a political debate.
Two states have already decriminalized the substance and other states could
potentially follow suit.
In the mid 2000’s companies started to realize the impact social media could have
on their marketing departments. Buffalo Wild Wings took full advantage of a way to
socially spread their brand. Now, the company has over 12 million “likes” on
Facebook and 387,000 followers on Twitter. They frequently post pictures of food
and interact with customers about current sporting events, such as the Super Bowl.
In this past year’s blowout, they tweeted “Sorry fans, we don’t have a button for
this.” The tweet alluded to their previous marketing campaign where a Buffalo Wild
Wings patron would wish the “big game” would go into overtime and an employee
would press a button to spark an event that causes the game to reach overtime.
Tweets like this symbolize Buffalo Wild Wings’ social presence and their ability to
positively insert themselves into the center of social America.
Ecological
Participating in the “green” movement is the main ecological remote environmental
factor for Buffalo Wild Wings. CSRHub gives the company an Environmental Social
Responsibility score of 62, 10 points higher than the company average (CSRHub).
This results from the company’s willingness to become more sustainable. In order to
have a smaller ecological footprint, a recent store opening in Milwaukee had a
sustainable mission. The end result: electricity usage down twenty percent due to
solar panels, waterless urinals conserving up to 140,000 gallons of water a year, and
hand dryers that erase the need for 1,000 paper towel rolls (Hutt). Though Buffalo
Wild Wings will have a marginal impact on the growing “green” movement, they can
and have joined it. By joining the movement, the company is staying on the socially
“cool” curve, saving money, and saving the environment.
Technological
The technological remote environment of Buffalo Wild Wings is comprised of
evolving entertainment systems, data security, alternate payment methods, and 3-D
printing. The televisions and sound systems get better every year, which is a key
technological factor for a company that prides itself on offering an outstanding
audio-visual environment. The state of data security is coming under increased
scrutiny after breaches at Target and Schnuck’s were millions of customers will find
their credit cards compromised. The actual breach doesn’t wreak havoc on the
companies, but the ensuing media and consumer backlash could break a company.
Alternate payment methods such as mobile commerce, or portable cash registers
could creep into the restaurant industry as well. 3-D printing is another potential
technology that could infiltrate the industry, but it remains to be seen if a highquality product could be printed and eaten comfortably by the consumers.
Porter's Five Forces
Background
Harvard professor Michael Porter created the Five-Forces Model to define the
various forces that shape the competition within an industry. Essentially, this is the
industry environment. The five forces are: barriers to entry, buyer power, supplier
power, threat of substitutes, and competitive rivalry (Pearce).
Barriers to Entry
One barrier to entry within the restaurant industry is the effect of economies of
scale. Large restaurants buy their supplies at wholesale prices because they buy in
bulk. Startup restaurants can’t afford to buy that large of a quantity and haven’t built
relationships with the suppliers resulting in higher supply costs and lower margins
(Mack). In a competitive restaurant industry, low margins or high customer prices
to offset supplier prices could prove fatal to infantile restaurants.
Product differentiation is another barrier to entry within the restaurant industry.
Every restaurant strives to hold at least some control over a niche market within the
industry. Buffalo Wild Wings has successfully done so in the fast-casual dining
sector and more specifically, the sports-bar arena. While mom-and-pops sports bars
and start-ups might command some attention within the area, it would be nearly
impossible to replicate Buffalo Wild Wing’s audio-visual environment with
inordinate amounts of television screens and other like-minded patrons watching
the same game. Buffalo Wild Wings spends millions of dollars every year advertising
and strengthening their brand. It would take years for any new competitor to
compete with Buffalo Wild Wings’ brand strength.
In a survey of 700 restaurants, the average startup costs was $494,888 assuming the
owner did not buy the land. In the same survey, the average number of months it
took to become profitable was eighteen (RestaurantOwner.com). These costs offer
limited barriers to entry as many people with decent credit could take out a halfmillion dollar loan. Essentially, they are paying for a house when they open a
restaurant.
Entrenched companies, such as Buffalo Wild Wings, have advantages that are not
available to newcomers in the restaurant industry regardless of their size or
production capabilities. The real estate that Buffalo Wild Wings sits on is one of its
biggest assets. With fewer good locations to expand to, Buffalo Wild Wings has
turned to excess space in malls to expand. The company plans to open five
restaurants on the parking lots of big-box stores (Jargon and Hudson). With
established companies such as Buffalo Wild Wings forced to expand creatively, new
restaurants will be hard-pressed to find suitable locations.
The capital barriers to entering the restaurant are relatively small, but the intense
competition and abundance of competitors makes long-term entry very difficult.
According to an Ohio State University study, sixty percent of new restaurants close
within their first three to five years of operation (Hudgens). Statistics like this show
that the barriers to entry within the restaurant industry are minimal on the surface,
but extreme over a longer timeframe.
Buyer Power
With intense competition within the restaurant industry, one would think that
buyers hold supreme power. In Buffalo Wild Wings’ case, this isn’t true. Because the
audio-visual environment heavily augments their main product of beer and chicken
wings, Buffalo Wild Wings is able to get away with price fluctuations to maintain
margins. For instance, in the fall of 2013, the company raised prices across the
board by four percent, yet sales were largely unaffected (Tuttle). This indicates that
customers haven’t and potentially will not force down prices through lack of
demand creating minimal buyer power. However, Buffalo Wild Wings must keep in
mind that continued upward price movement isn’t unlimited and could have
consequences.
Supplier Power
Buffalo Wild Wings’ suppliers have limited power. Because chicken is sold
worldwide, the prices fluctuate. Under normal circumstances, this would force
Buffalo Wild Wings’ margins to be at the mercy of the global chicken market. As
stated above, Buffalo Wild Wings’ has managed to differentiate themselves so far
away from most competitors that the supposed supplier power of chicken
producers (an integral piece of their menu as chicken wings are the featured
product) is non-existent because the price is merely passed through to the customer
(who, as stated above, also doesn’t seem to mind the prices being passed to them).
This could become problematic should Buffalo Wild Wings hit the price threshold at
which the customer is no longer willing to pay.
Threat of Substitutes
The sit-down dining sector saw firsthand the substitutes that they face when the
recent recession wave started to hit the restaurant industry. Fast food or home
cooked meals became more popular, but Buffalo Wild Wings weathered the storm.
With patrons no longer willing to spend their hard-earned money on expensive
meals and competitors faltering, Buffalo Wild Wings managed to grow their
business. In 2013, many restaurants experienced their same-store sales were
“relatively weak through this past summer and fall, with many of the larger
mainstream brands facing relatively anemic operating trends” (Yahoo). Same store
sales for Buffalo Wild Wings increased between three and five percent in the second
and third quarter of 2013 (Buffalowildwings.com). Obviously with same store sales
increasing, Buffalo Wild Wings wasn’t affected by the threat of substitutes. For
planning purposes, the company should continue strategizing to combat possible
substitutes in the future.
Competitive Rivalry
Buffalo Wild Wings competes: ““Primarily with local and regional sports bars and
national casual dining and quick casual establishments, and to a lesser extent, [the]
quick service restaurants such as wingbased take-out concepts” (Buffalo Wild
Wings). The national restaurant chains that they compete with are Hooters,
Applebee’s, Houlihan’s, and other similar restaurants.
They manage to differentiate themselves from the competition through the quality
of their food, service, atmosphere, and value (Buffalo Wild Wings). The atmosphere
and brand that Buffalo Wild Wings has built differentiates them from any restaurant
in the country. There are not many restaurants that serve food and drinks while also
providing many television sets for sports and a continuous trivia game. Sally Smith
told Nation’s Restaurant News that she believes that by giving customers the choice
between a fast-casual service, where no tip is required, and full service, where the
customer is waited on, separates them from the competition. A franchisee estimated
that 90% of his lunch patrons opted for the fast-casual service while 50% opted for
it at dinner (Walkup).
Positioning Map
Buffalo Wild Wings positions themselves on the basis of sports entertainment
provided by the restaurant and food quality. While some competitors such as Olive
Garden focus primarily on food quality, and other competitors focus on the
entertainment side, like Hooters. Only Buffalo Wild Wings adequately provides both
for the customer. This is the reason why Buffalo Wild Wings doesn’t have a
competitive rivalry with any particular restaurant. Sure, small mom-and-pop’s bars
might compete at an extremely local level, but jockeying with one small restaurant is
not worth the nationwide chain’s concern. Buffalo Wild Wings has a positioning
advantage over all of their competition; whether it is food quality, value, or audiovisual entertainment. Buffalo Wild Wings’ positioning is a substantial reason why
they have experienced success the last couple years despite less than favorable
economic circumstances.
S.W.O.T Analysis
Background
“SWOT is an acronym for the internal Strengths and Weaknesses of a firm, and the
environmental Opportunities and Threats facing that firm” (Pearce). This analysis
creates an overview of Buffalo Wild Wings’ strategic situation.
Strengths
Buffalo Wild Wing’s leadership is one of their biggest strengths. CEO Sally Smith
started serving as CEO and President since 1996. When she joined, there were 35
restaurants and “the chain’s finances were on life support” (Koteff). As of December
2013, Buffalo Wild Wings owned or franchised 992 restaurants
(buffalowildwings.com). Stable leadership gives the company a consistent vision,
but also speaks to the success of Smith. If Buffalo Wild Wings had performed under
expectations, they might have crumbled in 1996, or fired the CEO once the brand
was established. Neither happened meaning that Buffalo Wild Wings and current
CEO are a healthy unity for the restaurant.
The wings, beer, and experience that Buffalo Wild Wings sells is one of its greatest
strengths. The Motley Fool believes that the product is so good and unique, that
Buffalo Wild Wings could be one of their renowned “Rule Breakers” that disrupt
current markets considerably, or create markets that don’t exist. “As wild (pun
intended) as this may sound, Buffalo Wild Wings disrupted Hooter's and the
prototypical sports bars. They did this by creating an environment the entire family
could enjoy. By providing a clean and family friendly environment they fully
capitalized on the beautiful union of wings and sports, and doubled their customer
"net" (women and children actually are customers)”(Motley Fool). The sports-bar
market historically has never been a family environment. Buffalo Wild Wings has
done the unthinkable: they’ve captured the rowdy sports-bar market while ensuring
that the restaurant can remain family friendly. This is a true point of differentiation,
and the reason why The Motley Fool argues that they’ve become a “Rule Breaker.”
Buffalo Wild Wing’s greatest asset is their domestic brand strength. Through years
of marketing and stellar service, the restaurant evolved into a neighborhood
destination. As previously mentioned, Buffalo Wild Wings has a strong social media
presence with over 12 million Facebook likes and 387,000 twitter followers. They
have also gained recognition for their national advertising campaigns. The
“Overtime” advertisements where a group of friends watching a game would wish
aloud that it would never end was particularly successful. The Buffalo Wild Wings
staffer would press a button that would radio a discreet worker at the game who
would trigger an event causing the game to remain tied. In fact, the company
recently received The International Foodservice Manufacturers Association
Marketing/Service award at the Chain Operator’s Exchange. The award lauds
Buffalo Wild Wings for: “Soar[ing] to unprecedented heights with marketing
strategies that made them stand out within their category. From a store redesign
that captures the stadium experience to the front-of-house greeters, the setting and
staff create an inviting, warm and fun ambiance that keeps customers coming back”
(IFMA). Buffalo Wild Wing’s strong domestic brand built through stable leadership,
great products, and strong marketing is the company’s greatest asset.
Weakness
Buffalo Wild Wings is susceptible to fluctuations in wing prices, but they have found
a way to pass those fluctuations onto the customer for the past decade. In the first
fiscal quarter of 2013, Buffalo Wild Wings paid a record $2.10 for a pound of chicken
wings. Restaurant Finance estimates that the company also pays thirty percent
more than the initial cost due to the supply of large chickens contrary to their
demand for smaller chicken wings (Restaurant Finance). In 2011, the chicken prices
were “historically low,” yet in 2012 were “historically high” (buffalowildwings.com).
Large fluctuations in chicken prices for a company that predominantly sells chicken
wings create problems. It’s unrealistic to expect consistent margins with such
variable cost.
An un-established global brand could derail Buffalo Wild Wings’ global expansion
plan. With 992 restaurants in the United States and Canada, Buffalo Wild Wings has
shrinking room to further saturate the domestic market. The brand strength in the
United States is very strong; built through years of operational excellence and
effective marketing campaigns. With the recent decisions to move overseas, the
Buffalo Wild Wings “experience” is widely unknown. This makes local competitors
stiffer competition within the sports-bar market. Consumer taste and spending
habits will also be different in foreign markets.
Opportunities
Expanding their global brand is an opportunity for Buffalo Wild Wings to grow. They
have already begun expansion to Canada and recently signed a deal to place twentytwo restaurants in Middle Eastern countries and four in Puerto Rico (Koteff). With
992 domestic restaurants, Buffalo Wild Wings real opportunity for growth lies
outside the continental United States.
Buffalo Wild Wings aims to operate 1,700 restaurants in North America. With 992
current restaurants, the chain still has room for domestic growth. With a strong,
established brand, opening new restaurants in the United States offers less risk than
foreign expansion.
The company recently invested in PizzaRev, a small Los Angeles-based fast-casual
pizza chain. Buffalo Wild Wings is acting as a franchisee for the chain and is opening
up new stores in Minneapolis. The pizzeria sells customized fast-serve pizzas for $8
(Restaurant Finance). This is the company’s first attempt at domestic expansion
through new concepts, and represents a low risk investment. With the lack of
national competitors and Buffalo Wild Wings’ marketing channels and financial
backing, PizzaRev has all of the ingredients for successful expansion. Because
Buffalo Wild Wings has densely saturated the domestic market, the greatest
opportunity for corporate growth in the United States is through acquisitions or
investments in new businesses.
Threats
Any chicken crisis could hurt Buffalo Wild Wings’ earnings. When the Bird Flu hit
China in 2013, KFC sales fell 36 percent from January to March (CBS News). A
domestic outbreak wouldn’t cripple the company, but it would possibly allow for
new entrants in the market, and loss of market share.
With 558 franchised restaurants, Buffalo Wild Wings could hurt its brand. Although
there are strict guidelines to franchising, it’s very difficult to track 558 restaurants
and ensure that they are strengthening and not diminishing the brand. With more
expansion planned, Buffalo Wild Wings could lose partial organizational control
over franchised restaurants and a weaker domestic brand could potentially result in
lost market share.
With nearly all revenues coming from the United States, Buffalo Wild Wings is
particularly susceptible should there be an economic recession. Established
international restaurants can mitigate recession risk through successful overseas
operations, but Buffalo Wild Wings has not achieved that status yet. If international
expansion is successful, Buffalo Wild Wings will not be affected as much by United
States economic affairs, but it might be a decade before that happens.
Buffalo Wild Wings menu is not particularly healthy – at least the main sellers: beer,
wings, and other appetizers. Greater public education about nutritional value of
food could lower the restaurant’s customers’ lifetime value, as they will be more
careful with what they eat. Selling alcohol is a potential liability should a restaurant
be irresponsible with service. As previously mentioned, Buffalo Wild Wings has
displayed excellent responsibility in this regard, but it only takes one mistake for a
public relations nightmare and family lawsuit.
Generic Strategy
Differentiation
Buffalo Wild Wings’ generic strategy is to build an economic moat between their
competitors and themselves. They do this through differentiation. Companies that
are successful through differentiation typically have strong brand stemming from an
effective marketing department that builds customer loyalty. Pearce extrapolates
that loyal customers allow a company to charge a premium for their product
(Pearce).
The restaurant is different from other sports-bars because they offer a family
friendly environment while simultaneously simulating a stadium atmosphere. The
S.W.O.T Analysis describes the company’s points of differentiation. Their brand is
extremely strong and the experience sold to customers is not easily replicated. As
previously mentioned, The Motely Fool believes Buffalo Wild Wings to be a “Rule
Breaker,” that is different in that it has created a market that didn’t previously exist:
the family-friendly sports-bar (Motley Fool). Buffalo Wild Wings is not the low-cost
producer within the fast-casual restaurant industry or the sports-bar sector, yet
they charge a premium for their product. They are able to get away with this due to
the loyal customers, which have allowed them grow to over 1,000 restaurants
(Buffalowildwings.com)
Grand Strategy
Concentrated Growth
Buffalo Wild Wings benefited from favorable conditions that allow their
concentrated growth model to be successful. This strategy works best when the
industry is not particularly sensitive to technological advances. The restaurant
industry serves food, thus technology doesn’t play a particularly large role. Another
condition advantageous for Buffalo Wild Wings is that their product is so distinctive,
that it “dissuade[s] competitors in adjacent product markets from trying to invade
the firm’s segment” (Pearce).
Buffalo Wild Wings is at the tail end of a concentrated growth grand strategy. In
seventeen years, Sally Smith focus has been growing the domestic brand. While
serving as CEO, she has witnessed a company of 35 restaurants grow into a
thousand restaurant empire (Koteff). As of the 2014 10-K, Buffalo Wild Wings has
992 restaurants in North America – which they site as their “domestic market.”
Their goal is to reach 1,700 in the future. Realistically, Buffalo Wild Wings will reach
that goal within the decade as they plan to open 95 more restaurants domestically
this year (Buffalowildwings.com). Following the same trajectory, the company
would hit domestic capacity in 2022.
Market Development
The restaurant recently signed a contract to place twenty-two restaurants in the
Middle East and four in Puerto Rico (Koteff). They also are further expanding into
Mexico and the Philippines (Buffalowildwings.com). Even though Buffalo Wild
Wings has a proven track record expanding within North America, their
intercontinental experience is lacking. Canada and the United States are close
geographically and have similar consumer habits. The Middle East is an entirely new
society that Buffalo Wild Wings will have to market towards, but with less brand
recognition than they are accustomed to. With much of the value of the product
derived from the stadium experience, Middle Eastern customers might not value or
feel the same atmosphere that is created in North American Buffalo Wild Wings.
Product Development
Buffalo Wild Wings invested in PizzaRev, a small Californian pizza chain (Restaurant
Finance). By agreeing to be a franchisee, they are leveraging their brand strength to
exploring a potential new product line. Buffalo Wild Wings’ marketing channels,
leadership, and expansion experience should enable the Buffalo Wild Wings-owned
PizzaRevs to prosper. Because they are running out of North American space to
operate the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants, the company decided to develop their
product and tap into the fast-service pizza sector as an alternate revenue stream.
Concentric Diversification
According to their 2014 10-K, Buffalo Wild Wings is “continuing to evaluate
additional emerging restaurant brands for possible investment”
(Buffalowildwings.com). This includes their previously mentioned minority
investment in PizzaRev. While Buffalo Wild Wings still has some North American
growth left, they are starting their concentric diversification grand strategy,
transitioning from their previous concentrated growth model. In previous 10-K’s,
Buffalo Wild Wings made no mention of looking at acquiring different restaurant
brands to invest in. It is clear, now with the PizzaRev investment, that this
diversification is a viable option for continued domestic growth. “Test driving” a
restaurant brand such as PizzaRev by being the franchisee gives Buffalo Wild Wings
a low-risk opportunity to determine whether an acquisition should be made. Look
for Buffalo Wild Wings’ long term domestic strategy to fit the mold of concentric
diversification.
Functional Tactics
Background
“Functional tactics are the key, routine activities that must be undertaken in each
functional area – marketing, finance, production/operations, R&D, and human
resource management – to provide the business’s products and services” (Pearce).
The purpose of functional tactics is to translate the planning (grand strategy) into
actions that will fulfill short-term objectives.
Marketing
Marketing is one of Buffalo Wild Wings’ greatest strengths. Over the years, it has
helped shape, establish, and increase their brand strength. Initially, the
advertisements targeted strictly the male sports fan. According to their 10-K, “Each
marketing campaign has a theme that reflects guest lifestyles and behaviors”
(Buffalowildwings.com). As the company has grown from a sports bar, they have
made adjustments to encompass women and families. In 2012, Buffalo Wild Wings
has made some corporate decisions such as removing “Grill and Bar” from their
name to target this audience. At the time, CEO Sally Smith said: "The changes give us
more flexibility in the use of the logo, and it appeals to our wide and growing
audience, including women, while maintaining a sporty masculinity" (Landingham).
Buffalo Wild Wings has also made a concerted effort to market their combination of
bar and family dining sector. During their recent “Bandwagon” commercials, a
“regular sports fan” is watching an upstart team win a game. The “die-hard” fan of
that particular upstart team starts bragging about he knew about the team and has
been a lifelong fan. Then, a Buffalo Wild Wings referee comes in and pauses the
commercial to remind the “die-hard” fan that he doesn’t need to sound so
pretentious and should teach the “regular sports fan” the fight song for the team he
is so proud of (Bandwagon). This commercial exudes the culture of Buffalo Wild
Wings; one that is friendly, inclusive, and fun for all.
Finance
The dilemma facing many expanding restaurants is simple: franchise, or finance
through their own corporation. Buffalo Wild Wings has expanded through both
avenues, but franchising allows the company to grow utilizing other people’s money.
The risk of financing their growth through franchising is that the franchisee might
harm the brand, but Buffalo Wild Wings seems to have pretty rigid standards that
are monitored by franchise consultants and regional managers.
Production/Operations
“We attribute our success to the hard work and dedication of our team. While our
famous wings spun in our signature sauces, diverse beer selection, and unsurpassed
audio-visual experience may bring customers to Buffalo Wild Wings in the first
place, it's our people who ultimately give them a reason to keep coming back”
(Buffalowildwings.com). In their mission statement, Buffalo Wild Wings explicitly
states their activities that differentiate themselves within their market. The audiovisual experience, differentiated product, and outstanding service create the proper
visit to the restaurant. Placing sixty high-definition flat screen televisions and three
projection screens creates the audio-visual experience that is so revered
(Buffalowildiwngs.com). The biggest advantage that Buffalo Wild Wings has is that
the environment created through branding and customer management is
compatible for stadium-atmosphere craving sports fan and the family dinner
simultaneously. This makes them a Motley Fool “Rule Breaker” (Motley Fool).
Buffalo Wild Wings also has an extensive leadership program. They utilize regional
managers that oversee restaurants and general managers within their territory. In
addition, they also employ franchise consultants who oversee over twenty
restaurants apiece (Buffalowildwings.com). This ensures that there is a uniform
customer experience being sold at corporate and franchised stores strengthening
the brand.
Research & Development
Research and development of restaurants consists of new ways to deliver the
product, new products, and updating the restaurant concept. Buffalo Wild Wings has
started introducing tabletop tablets for concentrated viewing at 45 locations. By the
end of 2014, the company hopes to have tablets at every restaurant. They have also
developed their own beer, Game Changer Ale, which was designed to be paired with
wings. The new beer is in addition to their ever-changing list of new menu items and
wing sauces introduced and experimented with every year (Buffalowildwings.com).
The business concept has also been expanded with the previously mentioned
venture into PizzaRev. Buffalo Wild Wings has hit all three key research and
development areas and must continue to do so in order to maintain their
competitive advantage.
Human Resource Management
Buffalo Wild Wings’ strong executive team has been a contributing factor in their
consistent growth over the last decade. The fact that the majority of them have
collaborated over the last decade contributes to their effectiveness as a
management team. CEO Sally Smith has been with the company since 1994 and the
CFO started in 1996. Kathleen Benning, Executive Vice President and head of Global
Brand and Business Development, has served as an executive since 1997
(Buffalowildwings.com). With such a stable executive team, it’s no wonder the
company has been so successful. By working together for the better part of the last
two decades, the Buffalo Wild Wings management team is a well-oiled machine.
Organizational Structure
Functional Organizational Structure
Buffalo Wild Wings employs the functional organizational structure. This is the
typical hierarchal corporate structure with the Board of Directors at the top and the
Chief Executive Officer directly below running the organization. Sally Smith, the CEO
of Buffalo Wild Wings, serves on the Board of Directors along with six other
members with backgrounds ranging from business consulting, law, advertising, and
capital management. Under Sally Smith, the management team is comprised of a
Chief Financial Officer/Treasurer, Chief Operating Officer, Vice President of Global
Brand and Business Development, Vice President of North American Operations,
Vice President of Guest Experience and Innovation, Vice President of General
Counsel and Secretary, and Vice President of Talent Management
(Buffalowildwings.com). Each Vice President heads their own department with their
own responsibilities that contribute towards a coordinated, unified corporate effort.
Restaurants take a risk franchising. Franchised restaurants that don’t follow
corporate rules and regulations could harm the brand of the company. To ensure
that this doesn’t happen, Buffalo Wild Wings organizational structure has regional
managers and franchise consultants that closely monitor restaurants’ actions.
Buffalo Wild Wings appears to have a good reputation as a consistent brand, which
proves that franchised restaurants’ operations and management are aligned with
the corporate vision.
Leadership and Culture
Leadership
Organizational leadership is “The process and practice by key executives of guiding
and shepherding people in an organization towards a vision over time and
developing that organization’s future leadership and organization culture.”
Essentially, it is clarifying strategic intent, building an organization, and shaping
organizational culture (Pearce).
Sally Smith joined Buffalo Wild Wings eighteen years ago. She started as the Chief
Financial Officer due to her background in accounting (Koteff). Two years later, she
was appointed Chief Executive Officer. From her beginning, the restaurant has
grown from 35 units, to more than 1,000 (Buffalowildwings.com).
In a recent interview with FSR Magazine, Mrs. Smith clarified Buffalo Wild Wings’
strategic intent as “provid[ing] the ultimate social experience through restaurant
brands worldwide” (Koteff). These words are evidenced through the corporate
actions of expanding into the Mexico, the Middle East, the Philippines, and Puerto
Rico (Koteff). The ultimate social experience built through constant brand
marketing. Their commercials support the social experience being a positive one. As
previously mentioned, their “Bandwagon” commercial illustrates that Buffalo Wild
Wings supports comingling of casual and “die-hard” sports fans of all teams, even
both sides of rivalries (Bandwagon). The social experience is also built through
community involvement like fundraisers, sponsoring youth teams, and hosting
events to watch the local professional team. Performance is the second part of
strategic intent. Buffalo Wild Wings’ stock price has outperformed the NASDAQ by
more than 2.5 times over the last five years (Yahoo Finance).
Mrs. Smith devotes a lot of time developing Buffalo Wild Wings’ future leadership.
She looks to promote from within instead of outside hires for leadership positions.
In order to make the best decisions, she tries to talk to as many people within the
organization one on one. Smith comments on leadership development: “I believe
that moving people around and exposing them to different aspects of the business is
important. So if they are on the franchise side, I might want to move them to
something different. We choose specific conferences, picking the best ones that
apply” (Koteff). By moving potential leaders throughout the organization, Smith
gives them different perspectives on the operations of Buffalo Wild Wings. These
perspectives help shape the decisions that the potential leaders could make once
they assume leadership positions. Sponsoring employees’ attendance at national
conferences also gives the workers’ new perceptions on the industry as a whole.
Because Buffalo Wild Wings only had 35 units when she started, Sally Smith has
personally been able to build the organization through perseverance and principles.
When first taking over as CFO, Smith faced a daunting challenge. The restaurant was
swimming in debt and was close to bankruptcy. The new CFO worked out a deal
with the IRS for tax-payment. Getting out of the red and into the green became an
organizational priority. Finally with a corporate plan, Buffalo Wild Wings started to
move forward (History). Once the company was out of debt and growing quickly, the
priorities and principles shifted from paying off potential bankruptcy inducing debt
towards connecting and listening to customers. Smith places a lot of importance on
customer feedback. This feedback has shaped how they target customers effectively
increasing their lifetime value to the company (Koteff).
Culture
Shaping organizational culture is the final responsibility of a corporate leader. This
culture is molded through their leadership, principles, strategic intent, and ability to
build the organization. The final component that shapes culture is passion. After
nearly twenty years with the company, CEO Sally Smith was asked if she was
considering moving on: “I love what I do. I work with a great team and I am really
lucky” (Koteff). She also mentioned that she eats at Buffalo Wild Wings more than
once a week. It takes a lot of passion to have the same job for eighteen years and to
be just as effective in year eighteen as year one. Because so many employees have
witnessed previous employees rising up through the ranks to be a director, the
hourly workers understand that success is recognized and could result in
promotion. This hope pushes employees to do their best, and is a contributing factor
to their increasing brand strength.
Controls
Strategic controls are “Management efforts to track a strategy as it is being
implemented, detect problems or changes in its underlying premises, and make
necessary adjustments.” There are four types of strategic controls: premise control,
strategic surveillance, special alert control, and implementation control (Pearce).
Premise Control
There are two premise control factors: environmental and industry (Pearce).
Although Buffalo Wild Wings has limited control over environmental factors, these
factors shape its strategy. Technological advances with the Internet, smartphones,
and social media have had a particularly large impact. Buffalo Wild Wings has taken
full advantage with their marketing campaigns through social media to help build
their brand. As previously mentioned, they have over 12 million “likes” on Facebook
and 387,000 followers on Twitter. They have daily posts showing professional
pictures of their food and frequently connect a promotion to an upcoming sporting
event.
Buffalo Wild Wings’ industry factors are affected by the performance of the firms
within their industry. As of June 2013, “casual dining restaurants are up 31.6
percent so far this year. This is beating out quick-service restaurants, which are up
24.2 percent, and fast-casual and specialty restaurants, which are up 21.4 percent”
(Restaurant Finance). Buffalo Wild Wings has bested their successful competitors:
“Over a 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year span, Buffalo Wild Wings has outperformed both
the S&P 1500 and the restaurant industry, beating them in growth by over 20% for
each time period” (Adaptive Global Strategies). During the recession and recovery,
Buffalo Wild Wings thrived in comparison to the market as a whole, and their
industry competitors.
Strategic Surveillance
“Strategic surveillance is designed to monitor a broad range of events inside and
outside the firm that are likely to affect the course of its strategy” (Pearce). Buffalo
Wild Wings is an active listener within the industry. As part of their leadership
training, the company sends future managers to various kinds of conferences to
learn from others within and outside the industry (Koteff). Also, CEO Sally Smith is
on the Board of Directors of the National Restaurant Association
(Buffalowildwings.com). Through sending its current and future leaders to
worldwide conferences, Buffalo Wild Wings ensures that all parts of their
organization are aware of their environment. The fact that their CEO is on the Board
of Directors of the premier restaurant association is an added bonus and can only
benefit the company.
Special Alert Control
Special alert controls are designed to shift corporate strategy in case of an
emergency (Pearce). Buffalo Wild Wings has had limited negative interactions with
law enforcement and hasn’t endorsed any athletes with negative personas, thus one
can only speculate as to what the actual special alert controls are for the restaurant.
Implementation Control
Implementation controls assess the effectiveness of the company’s current strategy
and determine if a philosophy shift is necessary. There are two types of
implementation controls: monitoring strategic thrusts/projects and milestone
reviews (Pearce). Because their restaurant concept in North America is an
established brand, the company only needs to continue the actions that led to the
excellence: marketing campaigns targeting the sports bar environment yet still
welcoming families and women, continued product development, and brand
controls through social media, franchise consultants, and corporate fundraisers.
Buffalo Wild Wings doesn’t seem to have any milestone reviews for the public eye
with the exception of opening 1,500 restaurants in North America according to their
10-K. They recently surpassed 1,000 restaurants globally and had a small corporate
celebration with press releases to commemorate the special occasion
(Buffalowildwings.com).
Analysis Summary/Concluding Remarks
Overall, Buffalo Wild Wings track record speaks for itself. Its stock price has
outperformed both the market and the industry through economic recession and
recovery. They continue to expand at a solid rate and have started expanding
overseas. Recognizing the risk in global expansion, Buffalo Wild Wings invested in
PizzaRev to ensure that their domestic sales continue to increase. Look for the
company to continue looking for domestic investments to expand their business,
and within the next decade should be a multi-concept business. Motley Fool
characterized them as a “Rule-Breaker” meaning that they effectively have created
their own market. This is important because many successful companies struggle
when new businesses try to imitate their process and product. Through years of
constant marketing, controlled business, and growth, Buffalo Wild Wings has built a
brand that makes their restaurant a destination spot within the neighborhood to
watch games while simultaneously inviting families to dine. That business is nearly
impossible to replicate and justifies the economic moat that Buffalo Wild Wings
prospers within. Should the restaurant catch on globally, there is little need to add
various restaurant concepts within North America, but by starting to research and
invest now, Buffalo Wild Wings is mitigating the risk that their foreign investments
don’t pan out. The one thing that could hurt Buffalo Wild Wings is if CEO Sally Smith
retires. She single-handedly brought the company out of the throes of bankruptcy to
prosper, and the company should be well equipped to handle her retirement, but
that is uncertain at this point.
Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank The Principia College business department for all that they do for
us. I’ve learned a ton over the last couple of years and am sad to graduate the
department. Dale Matheny taught me so many applicable lessons with regards to
business and was always available to talk about possible career opportunities or
class assignments. I always recommend Dale’s classes to underclassmen because I
learned so much more than the course handbook and syllabus initially implies. Jim
Bilsborrow is an unbelievable accounting and finance professor. I’ve enjoyed my
many study sessions with him and that sense of humor NEVER gets old. Wes
Powell’s classes rounded out my collegiate business pedigree. Wes taught me the
human side of business. I’m grateful for the lessons I learned in leadership and how
to treat people – with sincerity and a smile. Wes also gave me a reading list that I am
slowly, but surely picking through, and if his classes taught me one thing, they
taught me to never stop learning.
http://m.fsrmagazine.com/executive-interviews/sally-smith-riding-high-buffalowild-wings
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