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 Canada should prepare for a Wild Wing battle

Buffalo Wild Wings, a large American restaurant chain, plans on expanding across Canada in 2011, but it may face stiff competition from a homegrown competitor.

The first two Buffalo Wild Wing locations will be in southern Ontario, but the company said it is looking for outlets in B.C., Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan as part of its five-year plan. Each location will employ between 50 and 75 people, creating over 3,500 full- and part-time jobs, the company claims.

The sports-bar-and-grill chain believes Canada is a "perfect fit" in a country where people love to eat, drink, watch hockey and socialize. Buffalo Wild Wings has saturated the U.S., with more than 680 locations across 43 states. Outlets feature large-screen TVs, licensed bars and sports memorabilia.

"We think Canada has many of the same attributes as the U.S.," chief executive Sally Smith said in an interview. "[Canadians] are great sports fans, they like chicken wings and they like beer."

Buffalo Wild Wings has zero debt and is self-financed, Smith said. It was ranked among Fortune magazine's 100 fastest-growing companies in 2009.

Meanwhile, Canadian dining chain Wild Wing has announced an aggressive plan to immediately open 30 more locations in a bid to head off Buffalo's northern stampede.

Wild Wing, an Ontario-based company specializing in flavoured chicken wings, already has 70 restaurants open and plans to make it more than 100 by year's end. Within three years that number could double with eateries planned for Alberta, B.C. and the East Coast, the franchise said.

Wild Wing also plans to go ahead with a formal legal claim with respect to its name, "denouncing unabashed attempts to take advantage of Wild Wing goodwill through bad faith conduct misleading Wild Wing franchisees," a company statement said.

"Wild Wing is the number 1 chicken wing brand in Canada and attributes this success to the strength and image of the Wild Wing brand," founder Rick Smiciklas said.

Smiciklas started the privately owned business in 1999 with only $100 in a business account and a $600 loan from his mother-in-law. He used the money to take lease on a small-town Ontario restaurant and received bank financing to get the business up and running.

A Wild Wing franchise requires a total investment of from $500,000 to $1 million, with an initial franchise fee of $50,000.

from Western Investor, October 2010