Buffalo Wild Wings — Restaurant in Newport

How many chicken wings does $2.9 billion buy? That’s the price roast beef sandwich-slinging fast-food brand Arby’s agreed to fork over to acquire casual dining chain Buffalo Wild Wings. The deal is the most recent in a recent slew of big restaurant mergers, from Burger King buying Popeyes to Panera snapping up Au Bon Pain.

BWW is just the latest addition to the portfolio of Roark Capital Group, a private equity firm that controls Arby’s and the sandwich chain Jimmy John’s, as well as Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s parent company CKE Restaurants. Acquiring a chicken wing chain would seemingly make sense for Arby’s in light of its now-famous “We have the meats” tagline, and analysts also think it wise for more practical reasons: “45 percent of the population orders wings at least once a year, and that’s up 2 points from a year ago,” according to restaurant analyst Bonnie Riggs of market research firm NPD Group. (Interestingly, Roark also used to own BWW competitor Wingstop, but sold off the last of its holdings in the chain in 2016.)

So how did a fledgling sports bar from Ohio turn into a nearly $3 billion payday?

By 1992, Buffalo Wild Wings had grown to eight locations and began franchising, opening nearly 30 new locations over the next two years and hiring its first CEO, Sally Smith, in 1994. In 2003, it went public, with its IPO outperforming expectations and bringing in more than $50 million. The following year, it celebrated the opening of its 300th store.

A decade later, B-Dubs, as loyalists call it, had 1,000 stores, cementing its status as a runaway success during a time in which many mid-level chains were faltering. Today its 1,200-plus outlets include international locations in Mexico, Central America, the Philippines, and the Middle East.

The restaurants have a sports bar-meets-family-dining-chain feel, and are heavily outfitted with TVs and projection screens showing multiple sporting events at once. “I love the atmosphere, it’s like Vegas with all of the TVs,” says Robert Plaut, a patron at a BWW location near Times Square on Tuesday night, adding that “the servers are always really nice.” Fellow diner Cole Michaels concurred, saying, “There are so many monitors, you can watch all the sports you want to watch.”

While it started out serving just one style of hot wings, since then the menu has swelled to include 21 different sauces ranging from Thai Curry and Caribbean Jerk to the mouth-searing “Blazin’,” concocted with fiery ghost peppers. (A server at the Times Square location noted that patrons there tend to opt for the spicier sauces.) It also serves bar food classics like mozzarella sticks, quesadillas, and onion rings.

But while BWW was at one point one of the hottest restaurant stocks on Wall Street, as Nation’s Restaurant News notes, the company ran into trouble in 2015 when sales began declining. Like other restaurants, BWW’s profit margins were squeezed by rising labor costs, but it also faced a unique challenge: the soaring price of chicken wings.

The company laid off an undisclosed number of employees in order to cut costs and also raised its menu prices, something that Riggs says hurt it immensely. “With Buffalo Wild Wings, 40 percent of their traffic is families with kids, but that’s who they basically lost because of the increase in prices. [Families] couldn’t afford to go as often as they once did.”

The decline was also at least partially blamed on the dining habits of Those Damned Millennials, leading BWW to experiment with fast-casual. In the summer of 2017, it launched a spinoff counter service concept called B-Dubs Express that emphasizes takeout; it currently has two pilot locations, both in Minnesota.

Meanwhile, after facing significant sales declines in the mid-aughts, Arby’s has staged an impressive comeback: Sales rose 20...

The night started out on a very good note, but quickly went down hill. We came on a Sunday night, with a party of 17. I was very pleased that they were able to seat us within 10 minutes, I wasn't expecting to be sat right right away which was great. At first there were only 4 of us and the rest came within half an hour. Our server seemed nervous to have a big party, and while there was only 4 to begin with she started dividing the table up so that she knew who was on which bill. We ordered drinks and as we did more people came, so our server took their drink order, she would not take food/app orders until everyone had their drink. This process took a pretty long time, and several people could see their drink waiting at the bar for at least 10 minutes before receiving it. Once everyone was finally divided into checks and had drinks our server took food orders. A few people ordered appetizers, some of us ordered our meal. Food did not arrive for at least 45 minutes, and only food for half of the table arrived. We were not given silver wear, and when we asked we only received 3. Half of the table started eating assuming the other half would get their food soon. This was not the case. Long after the food was gone did someone from the other half ask a different server where their food was. She very rudely explained that with big parties the food comes out in 2 waves, which is very interesting considering our table was the only one on that half of the restaurant by that point, and the other half had a total of 14 other people too. When the food finally did come out we had someone who couldn't wait any longer for her food and had to leave about 20 minutes before she got it. And another person received an ice cold burger. Please understand that over 3/4 of the party worked or still works in restaurants and did not want to upset our server by complaining, but the cold burger was not editable so we sent it back. We still at this point only had 3 silver wear bundles and had to share despite asking for more. The burger came back 25 minutes later steaming hot after having clearly been remade, forgotten about, and microwaved. Half of the party left by now while the other half waited on the guy with the burger to actually get to eat his meal. At no point was there an apology or explanation for anything. After getting checks taken care of and leaving we realized that we got there at 7:30. and did not leave until 10:15, which was not our intention, it was simply how long service took. Additionally one person came down with food poisoning. We came for my boyfriend's birthday and let me say that this experience was awful. I cannot express enough my disappointment. Bdubs what are you going to do...

Wow, first of all I’ve been working in restaurants for 10+ years and this one needs help severely. Last night I decided to order bdubs because my husband and I love it and I hadn’t been in forever. Never been to this location. I ordered take out so I could get something for my husband to take to work for lunch and it was awful. Honestly, awful. I waited in the takeout lobby with my infant for 15 minutes before anyone greeted me or asked if I’d been helped (first red flag). I was the only one standing there. I honestly couldn’t believe how many employees just carried on conversations, laughed behind the counter, talked on the phone, stood around and did absolutely nothing while I was standing there waiting to be helped. Finally I asked about my order and although it was pick up time it wasn’t ready. Waited 20 more minutes and at this point there were 5-6 more customers also waiting on orders. I was pretty aggravated, to the point I was ready to leave. Then I had the thought well at least if I’m waiting this long then the food will be hot and fresh. WRONG! I drive the 6 minute drive home and get the cheese curds out and they are COLD. I just figured since those are deep fried and take the shortest amount of cooking time that they got done first and thus waited on the wings hence getting cold. I forgave that though and then opened the wings. They were COLD. Not to mention they poured sauce directly into the wing box and didn’t toss them like usual and just put them in the box. It was disgusting. There was a soup of sauce in all the boxes and it was evening coming through the cardboard and seeping on the table. Yuck. The wings were inedible. I couldn’t believe it. Overdone, no veggies, swimming in sauce, gross. As for the fries it was the same song and dance, yup you guessed it, cold and inedible. I am appalled at how poorly this business is conducted and I am seeking action by management to be reimbursed and hopefully resolve this matter. What a waste of time, effort, and $30....