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