Buffalo Wings & Rings eyes Wilmington

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CINCINNATI — Buffalo Wings & Rings, a Cincinnati-based franchise, announced its intent to open a restaurant in Wilmington by mid-2017, at the earliest.

The company needs to find a franchisee, according to Philip Schram, BW&R’s chief development officer.

“Our strategy goal is to grow a hundred miles around Cincinnati,” said Schram. “Wilmington is within that circle where we want to increase our density of restaurants.”

Schram said it would take about a year after finding a franchisee to select a site and construct the business. It also takes a year to find a franchisee, he said.

Schram promised BW&R would find the right franchisee and select the right site.

“It’s a big project … about 6,000 square feet,” he said. “We want to be sure we find the right location … We’re going to find the right franchisee who is going to be a good, long partner for the future.”

That franchisee, Schram said, should be someone who is happy using BW&R’s franchisee system with its resources, hospitable and people-oriented.

“It’s not the machine that makes us successful, it’s interactions with people,” he said.

It also requires slightly more than $1 million to open one of their restaurants, to pay the franchise fee, construction, training, and allow for needed cash flow in the beginning.

Schram said he believed Wilmington was a good location for BW&R’s expansion.

“It’s a good city, and that’s where we shine,” Schram said. He said BW&R would draw from a different customer base than competitor Buffalo Wild Wings, which has a restaurant in Wilmington, adding that he believes BW&R is more of a family-oriented restaurant.

“There is room for both,” he said.

“If you think about the sports bar, you may think about the college town, young professionals. We target people a little later in their life stages,” he said. “Typically, we go where people live and work and where they go shopping.”

The expansion would create 40 jobs, mostly full-time, according to Schram. The restaurant would be open 362 days a year and could seat 200 inside and 40 in an outside patio area.

Schram said the restaurants initially grossed $700,000 per year in revenue. Now they gross $2.5 million per year.

The closest BW&Rs are in Centerville, Monroe and Cincinnati.

Reach Nathan Kraatz at 937-382-2574, ext. 2510 or on Twitter @NathanKraatz.

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